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CurtainUp The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
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A CurtainUp NJ Review
Shakespeare in Love
Oh, I have a third question. What lies behind theatre-lover Queen Elizabeth’s peculiar request/ need to have a dog in every play presented before her? Okay, so let’s see how many tricks the dog - as identified in the program as Dublin Delancy McFinnigan - can perform while the actors wait their turn in the early minutes of the play. Once that is over, we can turn our attention over to the tricks by humans can do that director Bonnie J. Monte employs to maintain a momentum that comes as goes along with the many lines in the play that are taken straight from the quill of William Shakespeare. To be fair, Monte’s staging is appropriately frantic given the particulars of the convoluted plot. Her fine action-aplenty direction provides enough amusing, exuberant, rowdy and bawdy goings-on to fill two shows. For the record, Hall’s recycling of the original screenplay is quite admirable. For many seeing the antic cavorting of the characters from the film on stage will be a treat. But like many a comedy that goes on for too long, Shakespeare in Love appears padded and is ultimately enervating. The action takes place in various locations in 1593 London during the reign of Elizabeth all within a multi-functional tiered gallery well designed by Brian Clinnin. The changes in venue are easily attended to by the actors bringing and removing tables and chairs as needed. A good part of the mostly rough and tumble fun is derived from recognizing some still incubating lines from Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies. It becomes like a game for those in the know and will still get a chuckle from the rest. The play proposes that Shakespeare suffered greatly from writer’s block and was not opposed to stealing words and ideas from his contemporaries, notably his friend and rival Kit Marlow. This affliction certainly propels the plot in which he is attempting to compose and cast a comedy with a character named Romeo and his romance with the daughter of a pirate. Don’t you know that he unwittingly falls madly in love with a young woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman - shades of Victor Victoria. At its best, the play is a rollicking and raucous view of backstage life and the rivalry between competing producers and their backers, the jealous playwrights and all those both terrible and terrific actors who like to play dress-up in designer Nikki Delhomme’s period-perfect costumes. Between raising the money and raising the roof, all the characters appear to be having a swell time. The production was enhanced nicely by some period dances choreographed by Danielle Liccardo and authentic musical accompaniment Kris Kukul. Jon Baker is a lanky and love-starved Will Shakespeare and Whitney Maris Brown postures with finesse in and out of drag as Viola de Lesseps. In standout support among the play’s many scene stealers are Marcus Den fuller as Wessex, Ames Adamson, as Fennyman, Anthony Marble as Kit Marlow and a particularly droll Edmond Genest as Henslowe among a company of cutups in a play that needs a little judicial cutting. |
Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES Shakespeare in Love Adapted by Lee Hall Based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard Directed by Bonnie J. Monte Cast of Principals: Ames Adamson (Fennyman), John Barker (Will Shakespeare), Whitney Maris Brown (Viola de Lesseps), Marcus Dean Fuller (Wessex), Edmond Genest (Henslowe), David Andrew Macdonald (Richard Burbage), Anthony Marble (Kit Marlowe) Music: Paddy Cunneen Music Director: Kris Kukul Production Stage Manager: Denise Cardarelli Scenic Designer: Brian Clinnin Costume Designer: Nikki Delhomme Lighting Designer: Steven Rosen Fight Director: Rick Sordelet Period Dance Consultant: Danielle Liccardo Running Time: 2 hours 45 minutes including intermission Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, N.J. (on the campus of Drew University) (973) 408 - 5600 Tickets: $69.00 Performances: Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 7:30 pm; Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm; matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm. From 10/11/17 Opened 10/14/17 Ends 11/12/17 Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance 10/15/17 NJ CONNECTIONS NJ Theaters NJ Theatre Alliance Discount Tix Information REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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