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Incongruity across the Bard
BAILA LAZARUS
Aug. 26, 2005
It’s rare for me not to like a Bard on the Beach
comedy but this year, Love’s Labour’s Lost
ranked far below previous productions in its quality. Perhaps it
was due to the minimal plot that’s short on action and long
on verbosity; perhaps it was the uncomfortable theme of women making
fun of men’s feelings; perhaps it was the odd way in which
LLL does not tie its ending up in a perfect set of couples
going off happily ever after. Whatever the case, I actually couldn’t
wait for this play to end but was no more satisfied when it did.
Add to this list problems with Don Armado’s accent (which seemed
to waver between Scottish, French, Italian and Spanish), a pre-teen
page whose braces make his Shakespearian dialogue even harder to
understand and female leads who could not project beyond the sound
of the rain on the roof (better get that dealt with before September!)
and you have a difficult play to recommend.
It’s true that this comedy does stand out for its wordplay
(even for Shakespeare) and director Michael Shamata even comments
on it in his program notes, calling it “acrobatic in its use
of language.” But it’s much easier to appreciate Shakespearian
nuances when they are written on a page before you than when trying
to catch them on the stage. The act of seeing a play is much different
and too much banter, for those lay people who don’t read Shakespeare
every weekend, can make one yearn for a good swordfight.
That’s not to say the play is without its moments. One of the
funniest scenes in Shakespeare comes near the end of the first half,
when the King and his lords, who have promised not to even converse
with women, let alone woo them, find out that they have all written
love letters to the very women they have foresworn. It’s hilarious
and epitomizes the futile effort of trying to deny love. But when
the second act opened up with a fart to set the audience laughing
and continued with burping, peeing jokes and slapstick, the play
lost its appeal. The Shakespearian fool is fine for a while but
ultimately gets tedious. I suppose, though, if you laugh at fart
jokes, you’ll probably like this play more than I did.
Far superior in its scope of acting and writing is As You Like
It, a much better vehicle for the acting ability of Rebecca
Auerbach and the acting and singing talent of Josh Epstein (although
not as much can be said of his look in a black, almost Rasta-like
period wig.) As You Like It has everything a Shakespearian
comedy needs – brothers who hate each other, dukes who want
to kill each other, daughters who fall in love and buff men who
take their shirts off and wrestle. And who can tear their eyes from
the stunning costumes (courtesy of Mara Gottler)?
The regular Bard players, including Gerry Mackay, Scott Bellis,
Allan Zinyk, Lara Gilchrist and David Mackay (wonderful as the clown
Touchstone) are there, but so is renowned Studio 58 founder Antony
Holland. This play is delightful and should be seen if only for
the topless wrestling match.
All is not perfect in Like It, however. Once again there
are some problems hearing the players on stage, especially when
they are speaking with their backs turned to the audience, and this
problem has to be resolved before autumn rains drown out the voices
entirely.
Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like
It run until Sept. 23, 24 and 25, respectively.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, illustrator and photographer
living in Vancouver.
This review can be found at the Jewish Independent website
at www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Aug05/archives05Aug26-04.html
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