British Theater Company Promises Shortened 'Star Wars' Epic

LONDON (AP) - U.S. directorGeorgeLucas has given permission for the "Star Wars''saga, which lasted for over 13 hours, to be shortened to a production ofjust 20 minutes, officials from Britain's Reduced Shakespeare Company saidTuesday

The company is famous forstaging the Bard's 37 plays in just 97 minutes and has also staged "Thecomplete history of America'' and "The Bible: the complete word of God,'' amongother abbreviated productions.

"Thisis my boyhood dream, in the space of 20 minutes I'm going to be Jabba the Hutt,Jar Jar Binks, Darth Vaderand AnakinSkywalker,'' said the company's Adam Long, who will write and direct thepiece and star in it, with two other performers.

"Everyone loves Star Warsbut I love it more than anyone on the planet.''

Long has promised toinclude every plot point from the Star Wars epic, from Anakin Skywalker's moveto the Dark Side, Princess Leia's rescue from the Empire and the constructionof the new Death Star.

Lucas' production companyLucasfilm has approved the reduced comedy version, which will be broadcast inBritain in the last week of August.

It will be filmed during aone-off performance at London's Criterion Theatre on Aug. 17.

The Associated Press, also known as the AP, is a wire service that provides articles to a host of newspapers and websites. The news organization was founded in 1846, when the company delivered the news by pony express. The Associated Press journalists cover news from around the world and in all subject matters.