It's a dog - The School of Night

Photo by Craig Schwartz
The School of Night

The Mark Taper Forum
(135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles 90012)

By Peter Whelan

Date of reviewed performance: November 29, 2008



Cast
Thomas Kyd - Michael Bakkensen
Ingram Frizer - Ian Bedford
Rosalinda Benotti - Tymberlee Chanel
Landlady - Paula Christensen
Robyn Poley - Mark H. Dold
Mostyn - Johnny Giacalone
Prison Jailer - Michael Kirby
Thomas Walsingham - Adrian LaTourelle
Sir Walter Raleigh -Henri Lubatti
Harlequin - Jon Monastero
Nicholas Skeres - Rob Nagle
Steward - Richard Robichaux
Audry Walsingham - Alicia Roper
William Shakespeare - John Sloan
Pantalone - Nick Toren
Kit Marlowe - Gregory Wooddell

There's a joke that goes: "What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an agnostic and a dyslexic?" The answer: "Someone who stays up all night wondering is there's a dog." If I had only known that I could learn the ENTIRETY of the plot behind The School of Night from the punchline of a 15 year old joke, I would have spent a much more productive and enjoyable two hours yesterday.

A quick rundown of the plot goes something like this: Christopher Marlowe entertains fellow playwrights and high nobles in his home on a regular basis. He does little to hide his disdain for and disbelief in Christianity, though he knows Queen Elizabeth (one of the world's most zealous protestants) is trying everyone for treason who doesn't share her view toward the Creator. A couple of regular attenders to Marlowe's soirees are actually Her Majesty's spies - Marlowe suspects it and the audience learns it for certain early on. Plus, though we all know that in truth Marlowe was killed in a barfight, the production goes so far as to print the playwright's coroner's report in the program. Therefore, most of the play consists of the audience waiting to see which conspirator kills him. It sounds like it ought to be interesting, but it isn't.

Here's why:

- the writing is as dull as white paint. There's a running joke where Marlowe opts to pray to the divine "Dog" instead of to God. This is funny the first time, but boring and pointless each additional time he does it (of which there are many). All of the characters take the revelations they make during the first scene and merely repeat them over and over again until the requisite two hours is up and Marlowe is mercifully put out of our misery.

- the acting is mediocre across the board. Even Gregory Wooddell (Marlowe) is entirely one note and that note becomes grating rather quickly. Tymberlee Chanel is a gorgeous woman who is beautifully costumed, but her fake Italian accent is just bad and the Elizabethan language doesn't come naturally from her lips. Same is true for John Sloan playing William Shakespeare (whom the program confusingly lists as playing Tom Stone - an effort to keep the big reveal a surprise for the audience, one supposes - but it's senseless as his identity is revealed very early on and is then only referred to as either Shakespeare or Touch, but never again as Tom Stone). Sloan obviously isn't comfortable with Elizabethan English and this is an atrocious quality to have in William Shakespeare. It all makes one wonder what the harsh conditions were behind the casting.

The set is attractive and has a couple of interesting machinations...but this certainly can't make up for everything else. Save your money for the next ISC season instead. At least you know they'll be entertaining.

The School of Night:

The play's the thing - Hamlet

Photo by Mike Ditz

Hamlet

Odyssey Theatre
(2055 Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles 90025)

By William Shakespeare

Date of reviewed peformance: November 22, 2008

Cast
Laertes - Hayden Adams
Player - Jinsoo Choi
Ghost/Player King/Gravedigger - Joseph Culliton
Marcellus/Osric - Thomas Ehas
Ophelia - Willow Geer
Player Queen - Mary Guilliams
Bernardo/Guildenstern - Matt Hurley
Hamlet - David Melville
Claudius - Michael Keith Morgan
Horatio - Sean Pritchett
Polonius - David Nathan Schwartz
Gertrude - Bernadette Sullivan
Rosencrantz - Erwin Tuazon
Francisco - Taka Yamamoto

The Independent Shakespeare Co. kicks off its winter season with one of Shakespeare's best known and most often quoted tragedies, Hamlet. They take this show somewhat more seriously than the summer fare presented Barnsdall Art Park and the indoor facilities present a change in ISC's audience as well. The audience for ISC's free Shakespeare in the Park series tends to be artsy folks in their late-twenties/early-thirties who either scrape by in Hollywood or live la vie boheme in Silverlake. They arrive dressed down - way down - and sprawl out on overstuffed comforters surrounded by bags of treats in Trader Joe's bags. But the crowd for Hamlet at the Odyssey Theatre is an entirely different sort. They're older (the average age at least 45), more intellectual and certainly professionally dressed - the kind of patrons who are accostomed to and respectful of professional theatre. The people who attended Hamlet had to really want to go and make a real effort to get there; Odyssey Theatre being as far away from civilization as possible and surrounded by nothing but kennels and animal hospitals. The difference in the style of the audience makes watching the now-familiar ISC a whole new experience.

David Melville portrays the brooding Dane. It is obvious by now that I am a real fan of Mr. Melville and adore the way he makes the words of the Immortal Bard feel as comfortable as fuzzy socks. He is mostly fantastic in this production, providing more of a "spoiled brat" slant to Hamlet than we generally see. He seems to roll his eyes and sigh or moan at very presence of any figures of authority. His attitude toward his love, Ophelia, is played just as childishly - with Hamlet's actions toward her being given no thought toward her feelings or actions. Even his feelings toward childhood friends bears no strong holds. He doesn't even think twice about sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern off to certain death. They had conspired against him, sure - but there isn't even a moment of sadness about this lost friendship, only a "better them than me, so to hell with them" attitude. This petulant side of Hamlet leaves the viewer less empathetic to his plight and more in wonderment of the perpetually entitled aristocracy.

Bernadette Sullivan is lovely in the role of Gertrude. I find her interpretation to bring the Queen in a different light than I generally see her. I have tended to always look at Gertrude as a willing co-conspirator. It is a sad conspiracy for her, because she does love her son - but in the end it is the securement of her own position and level of comfort that matter most. Ms. Sullivan's interpretation gives Gertrude a softer frame; one who is ignorant to most of the machiavellian planning happening around her (and certainly unknowing about anything that would bring harm to her husband or her son). Ms. Sullivan plays a much quieter, more understated character than I am used to seeing from her. Her Mephistopheles (Doctor Faustus), Mistress Quickly (Henry IV) and Maria (Twelfth Night) were all audacious characters, so it's nice to see her in control with a powerful character who is not loud and brassy.

Other supporting players that were of note included Matt Hurley as Guildenstern, Willow Geer's tragic Ophelia (whose performance was rather dull in early scenes, but became fantastic once insanity set in) and Sean Pritchett as Horatio. Joseph Culliton played three rather prominent roles to mixed results: his Gravedigger was quite thoughtful and enjoyable to watch; his Player King was very fun and the quick interaction between he and Mr. Melville during their organizing of the "Mousetrap Play" made me think this must be what it is like to watch ISC rehearse; his Ghost, however, was a bit too on-the-nose. ISC is generally so creative with their use of visuals (particularly when it comes to appearances by the supernatural), that it was a bit disappointing to see him dressed in white and saying "ooooooohhh..." Some of the other supporting players were obviously newbies without experience in Elizabethan tongue. Delivery of lines by these individuals was somewhat akin to watching a ten year old at their first piano recital. It was in these moments that the viewer was pulled out of the world of the play and it was the most damaging thing that happened during the production.

This production clocked in at just under three hours. The first two acts seemed to go by so quickly, but the third one crawled and I (for one, but I know there were others) became restless. I'm certainly not suggesting that ISC pare down scenes, as other groups have done, but perhaps beginning a half hour or so earlier in the evening would help stave off the fatigue.

Hamlet: