I had been after these tickets for months and after each
tremendous knock on the door there was no response. Nothing.
“Hello? Joe Straw here.”
I swear I could almost hear: “Shhh! He’s out there. Don’t answer that door!”
And like Rodney Dangerfield, who gets (got) no respect, I passed
the time, out in the cold Santa Monica air, in the rain, with holes in my
shoes, waiting patiently for tickets.
Conspiracies abound. And waiting in the cold produces irreconcilable
thoughts of whys and why not’s. What was
their reason?
The reason must have been the write up for The Merchant of
Venice starring F. Murray Abraham. Could
that have been it? It wasn’t that bad (of a review). Was it that bad? Maybe F. was mad. (Aren’t he and fellow Oscar
recipient Dustin, friends?) That’s it.
Maybe the Broads are mad too. Why couldn’t I have said good things about
Christen Simon Marabate as Nerissa?
In this town, bad thoughts are forgotten and ill thoughts; spoken
to you, flow like water off a duck’s back.
That’s a good thing. On the other
hand, memories linger like a festering sore and some people never forget.
And then, the call came.
Two tickets, but not together.
“We’re trying to get you two together.” (Vanessa and Nina are so wonderful.)
So, we wait.
“Come back at a quarter ‘till.”
We go into the lobby.
This being opening night, the lobby is filled with nicely dressed
gentlemen and gentlewomen with big rocks on their fingers.
Then, back to the booth, and lo and behold two tickets
together!
The seats are in the balcony, second row from the back. Still, at The Broad Stage, every seat is a
winner and I really can’t wait to see how the Brits do Shakespeare. Really, after months of waiting, I honestly cannot
wait.
Next, a fortunate turn of events. An usher asks if we would
like to come down and sit in the second row of the orchestra section. Quickly I grab my coat and run down the
stairs, through nicely dressed ladies (with rocks on their fingers) and greeters
in Elizabethan costumes, into the theatre, past another usher and down to the
middle section of the second row.
My date, not beside me now.
I look up and she’s still in the balcony, gathering things, but is on her
way down.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, Dale Franzen—Director,
Dustin Hoffman—Chair of the Artistic Advisory Board presents Shakespeare’s
Globe Theatre, The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare through November 27,
2011 and wonderfully directed by Rebecca Gatward.
Shakespeare by the Brits, bliss.
Comedy of Errors preformed by the Globe Shakespeare Company is
like watching a Warner Bros. cartoon performed by a madcap troupe of quick
change artists playing multiple roles, who one minute, are one character, and
the next second a completely different character. The characters change from head to toe, except
for the face part, which remains fairly constant. By the end of the play, all of the characters
are out of breath, sweat pouring off their bodies, and exhausted from the sheer
force of comedy.
Comedy is not for the weak or infirmed.
To open the show, the actors came though the lobby and down
the aisle in costumes accompanied by their own musical instruments. Multi-tasking. Oh, so this is how they do it
in jolly ole England.
You know The Comedy of Errors but in this write up I think I
should talk about the actors and the craft of acting by the British actors. Why
rehash a 400-year-old comedy?
Set in the country of Greece (where there’s a comedy of
errors going on there, of sorts.) Thus starts the tale of Egeon (Cornelius
Booth), a Syracusan who is forbidden in the village of Ephesus. The Duke of
Ephesus (Duncan Wisbey) discovers him breaking the law and as such condemns him
to die. (On a personal note: They’d kill
you for anything back then usually in the name of religion, but commerce?)
Fighting for his life, Egeon has a sad story to tell about
losing his wife and identical twins in a shipwreck, which now finds him in his
current state of unpleasantness. (There
is not a dry eye in the house, except those who have dry eyes.) The Duke, feeling sorry for Egeon, gives him
a day, to raise a ransom, or face an unspeakable execution. Shackled, he goes
off to raise the coinage.
Meanwhile Egeon’s sons have survived the shipwreck from long
ago and are now in the city. Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse
(Bill Buckhurst) and their respective slaves Dromio (Fergal McElherron) don’t
know the others are in the town of Ephesus.
Adriana (Laura Rodgers), wife to Antipholus of Ephesus,
mistakes Antipholus of Syracuse for her husband. She drags him off to dinner and asks Dromio
to guard the door. When Adriana’s husband
comes home, he is refused entry in his own palace.
First there is a battle of words between Dromio and
Antipholus of Ephesus at the revolving door. Then Antipholus of Syracuse falls
in love with Luciana (Dana Gartland), Adriana’s sister.
The revolving door scene is hilarious with actors flying all
over the stage. It is one of the many highlights of an evening filled with
highlights of mistaken identities, errors in judgments, and futile attempts to
collect payment.
Bill Buckhurst as
Antipholus of Syracuse and Ephesus did an admiral job. Dress as a Greek
tourist, kind of a geek as the Syracusan, and a man of the world as Antipholus
of Ephesus. His Syracusan seem befuddled
while his Ephesus counterpart was angered by his unfortunate’s set of
circumstances he finds himself in. Both seemed to suit the character well. Indeed, the glasses seemed to separate the man
from the beast. His performance is hilarious and well executed!
Fergal McElherron
as Dromio(s) is a clown with extreme physical gifts. The Dromio of Ephesus seemed more “rich and bitchy”
living in a wealthy enclave and not taking anything from anyone despite the
fact he’s a slave. One particularly
likes the broken kneecap scene among many others. One also likes his interpretation
of an ass, the likes of which I have not witness on this planet.
Cornelius Booth
as Egeon was extremely engaging and as he is telling his story of woe one was
not convinced this was a comedy in the making, because his interpretation was
very dramatic. Nevertheless, his
performance was marvelous. And as Dr.
Pinch he was equally wonderful as a whirling dervish, trying to reach religious estacy, spinning around the room and nearly collapsing
from dizziness, while, I suppose he was trying to cast out the devil in
Antipholus of Ephesus.
Cornelius Booth also played the saucy maid with
bright red lipstick stirring batter in the kitchen. But as she was stirring the batter, she was staring
at me. (Or so it appeared.) I diverted my eyes, looked back, and she was still staring
at me! I looked away, and then back
again, deep dark red puckering lips and eyes staring. Uncomfortable now. Sweating, profusely, still staring. She (he) moved off the stage. Thank you.
Sometimes comedy can be uncomfortable.
Duncan Wisbey did
a nice job playing the Duke and Angelo. There is a moment on stage where he is
caught being both characters. It was a delightful moment. It is amazing what
the placement of a hat can accomplish when moving from one character to
another. Also, there was a magnificent moment when Wisbey changed characters on
stage into the Duke. This was a grand moment that worked to perfection.
Emma Pallant as Abbess/Courtesan
has a very unique look, dark foreboding, very large eyes and a very nice comic
timing. But she can be serious and commanding as the Abbess when the role
requires her to be, or not to be. (Pun intended.)
Sophie Scott as
Merchants/Soldier/jailer did a very nice job. She also played a very mean
clarinet. (That means “good” in America.)
Laura Rodgers as
Adriana is a joy to watch and pleasing to the eye. Her demands are not so much she would be
considered a demanding wife. Nor is her
jealousy so much to provoke her into crimes of passion against her sister (Only
going as far as tearing a page out of a book.).
Still, giving that extra push into unchartered comedic territories would
only add to an already fine performance.
Dana Garland as
Luciana kind of fit into that geek mold.
One is not really sure her characterization as a bibliophage really
worked in the complete erroneous scheme of things. Nevertheless, she and Antipholus of Syracuse
made a perfect match. They were, by all
accounts, made for each other but their relationship never took off either one
way or another and playing a little too hard to get and letting her hair down in
the end was a little too late. Still,
she did some marvelous work on stage.
Overall the acting was brilliant. They all seemed to realize the errors of
their ways, which make The Comedy of Errors so delightful, so engaging, and so
mesmerizing.
Rebecca Gatward,
the director, does a marvelous job in putting this all together and having the
actors run at full speed during the course of the evening. There are a lot of
marvelous actions on stage and off to keep the action going. When actors were
far stage right or far stage left they had instruments to produce sound effects
to the action on stage. This is what I
love about the craft of acting and the spirit of directing, all for one and all
for the common good.
The Set Design by Liz
Cooke reminded me of a beach cabana perched on a loading dock and gave
Ephesus the feel of a tourist destination.
It also served as the home of Antipholus of Ephesus. Ms. Cooke was also the Costume Designer. These are two jobs marvelously done and
something you don’t see much of here in Los Angeles.
Run to see this production.
Run fast. Run
long. Run deep.
310-434-3200
www.thebroadstage.com
1310 11th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401
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