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| L - R, Lucas Peterson, Mike Niedzwiecki, Eric Bloom |
By Joe Straw
This troupe got me thinking of those old gypsy movies, set circa 1616, where
actors – tired, hungry, and bedraggled – park their wagon near a group of people
living in a forest who do not get theatre.
The tree people – also tired and hungry and with traces of the pox or remnants
of the bubonic plague – open their mucous eyes, and feigned delight at the
slight diversion in their lives of a performed art.
Of course, the tree people have little money, and probably never saw or
could afford a full-scale Shakespeare production. But the sagacious and crafty troupe seeking any
meager offerings (live healthy chickens and sanitized scraps of money) decide to
give them a show. And without wasting
their energy on just Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Coriolanus, they put all their
energy into giving them everything, abridged, in ninety minutes or less. (And
hoped that no one sneezed, cough or reached out their filthy gritty hands.) - Narrator
(*To shorten by omissions while retaining the basic
contents)
“Sir, I commend you to your own content.” First Merchant – Comedy of Errors
Santa Monica Rep presents The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare (abridged*) at the Promenade Playhouse written by Adam Long, Daniel
Singer, and Jess Winfield and directed by Sarah Gurfield. It is a wonderful
show for young and old, short and tall, wide and thin, brunettes and blonds,
brainiacs and buffoons.
“Over the boots? nay give me not the boots?” – Proteus – Two Gentlemen
of Verona
As the play starts, Eric Bloom, the co-founder &
Artistic Director of Santa Monica Rep, introduces us to the rules of the house,
you know, candy wrappers, cell phones, fire exits, etc., and that leads him to
introduce Mike Niedzwiecki, a preeminent Shakespearian Scholar.
“Do you intend to stay with me to-night?” – Lord – The Taming of The
Shrew
Niedzwiecki, lovingly grasps the book, The Complete Works of
William Shakespeare, holds it to his nose and takes a big enjoyable tearful whiff. He inquires about our knowledge, nay to know
how many of us have seen a Shakespeare play. All hands went up. Not expecting that response, Mike cowers and
run over to Eric, and says he wasn’t prepared for this audience.
“I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.” – Hermia – A
Midsummer-Night’s Dream
“How well he’s read, to reason against reading!” – King – Love’s
Labour’s Lost
(In this particular production, it is best not to volunteer
because you may find yourself up on stage, doing slightly embarrassing things, unless
you are indeed an actor.)
And then the race is on to perform 37 plays in 90 minutes.
There are a lot of wonderful moments in this 1987 play by Long, Singer and Winfield. They give us a taste to whet our
Shakespearian appetites. And not only do we have Hamlet (in abridged* form) but
Hamlet real fast, and then Hamlet backwards.
At the end, the actors were drenched in sweat and thrown into a human
pile of flesh, center stage. And this is well worth the price of admission.
The writers give us the idea of a free form theatre. Free to roam outside our comfort level. Anything
is fair game so we get rapping, wild improvisation, some pop culture, featuring
Harry Potter and some Star Wars thrown in to boot. This is intentional in free form theatre. And breaking the fourth wall is a necessary
part of the show, much to the audience’s delight. I especially found
fascinating the acting exercise that shows what is going on in the head of an
actor during a performance. It is an abridged* examination of the craft which
hits the nail right on the head.
Every actor has his own wonderful creative moment, and those
moments serve as a fine showcase for these actors. The audience members love them so much they
walked out quoting Shakespeare (only in abridged* fashion).
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| L - R, Lucas Peterson, Mike Niedzwiecki, Eric Bloom |
Eric Bloom, with
small elf-like features, handles himself marvelously on stage. The unfathomable depths of his deep deep deep
Scottish accent was almost like he was speaking another language, strangely
enough, sounding a lot like English for that Scottish play (as he turns his head
toward the audience and says it’s the best he can do). There are a number of
marvelous moments in Bloom’s performance of the twenty-two characters that he
performs on stage.
Mike Niedzwiecki
is incredibly funny as he pours through fourteen different characters. There is a Titus Andronicus cooking show that
works marvelously although the head in the pie and lady fingers for desert were
a slightly gruesome, not appetizing, but oh so funny. And did I say there were puppets? The puppets were wickedly mature and marvelously
humanized by Niedzwiecki – in one of the highlights of the show!
Lucas Peterson
had most of the female roles, did not like it one bit, and would not do
Coriolanus, because of the “anus” in the word - something about being beneath
his religious dignity. His lab-coat ghost in Hamlet is money. And I
particularly liked his monologue, done very simply, center stage, and with a
great deal of human emotion. With all
the frivolity going on stage, this was just the icing on the cake.
Sarah Gurfield,
the director, did a marvelous job. The football game worked to perfection. The same with Othello’s rap song. The audience just ate it up and everyone had a
great time.
Bart Petty did a
fantastic job as the Producer.
The Set Design by Jen Bloom & Jeremy Swain worked
perfectly for this venue.
Other members of the crew are as follows:
Costume Design – Madeline Keller
Lighting Design – Mike Stone
Sound Design – Noelle Hoffman
Props – Ann Marie Tullo
Stage Manager – Natalya Zernitskaya
ASM/Production Apprentice – Princella Baker, Jr.
Lighting Apprentice – John Mulhern
Publicity – Philip Sokoloff
Graphic Design – Brandon Roosa & Shannon Esra
Production Photographer – Mitch Goldstrom
Associate Producer – Jim Mueller
Set Builders – David Clayberg, Bart Petty, Brian Slaten,
Shannon Esra, Yael Berkovich, Sean Pypers, Michelle Joyner.
Run! Run! Run! And takes someone who has an infectious
laugh!
Through June 30, 2012
Fridays at 8:00pm
Saturdays and Sunday at 7:00pm
The Promenade Playhouse
1404 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA
90401
Phone: 213-268-1454
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