Commentary: Fund Raising Table Read of Dan Rosen's 'Wil': A Comedy for the Ages...Well, the Dark Ages
Well, I certainly needed that smile to pick me up during a year long pandemic and a very sorely missed absence from the theatre.
The next best thing? To listen, to see and to experience a dazzling panoply of some outstanding Canadian and American performing artists all partake in a table read of Dan Rosen’s play ‘Wil’ to fund raise for The Actors Fund and The Actors’ Fund of Canada (The AFC).
I can’t really call this article a review since the production was a table read, but I would like to voice some comments about the text itself. ‘Wil’ was delayed by a week for online technical production items. Given my novice understanding of all items computer related, I can clearly understand why the week was needed and taken because I was highly impressed with the solid computer generated prowess involved in the meshing of historical drawings and of each artist appearing in their own performing box throughout the reading.
I’m trying not to spoil the fun for future watchers and listeners. I’ve always been a Shakespeare lover, so I found Rosen’s script an ‘amusi-spirited’ fantastically fictional romp of the Elizabethan era. To stage it sometime in the future will be a feat itself as there are some opulently described scene settings; nevertheless, there are so many talented designers in Canada and the US that I look forward to seeing what is devised.
The year is 1590 and under a smartly directed narration by Jonathan Scarfe, we meet a 26-year-old Wil Shakespeare ‘sometimes humorously pronounced as SHACKSPEAR (Oliver Dench) an up-and-coming young playwright who struggles in trying to keep himself calm and in being husband to wife Anne (Kendra Leigh Timmins) and father to their 3 children. Things are not looking at all good for Wil in the beginning until his trusted agent Bernie Shylock (Eric McCormack, from ‘Will and Grace’) lands the famed playwright his first professional writing gig to run the summer stock theatre at Elsinore Castle in Denmark.
Upon arrival at Denmark with his new play ‘Romeo & Juliet’ in hand, Wil is introduced to the elderly King (Gerard Plunkett), his wife, Gertrude (Lucy Peacock), their assistant, Polonius (Colm Feore), and meets a motley crew of thespians from a chimpanzee to a hooker and an eye patched performer) who make Wil wish he did not follow through on this directive from Bernie. To top matters off, Wil must become both a ‘My Fair Lady’ Professor Higgins and ‘Miracle Worker’ Annie Sullivan to a flatulent Hamlet (Luke Humphrey), deal with dastardly villains Richard (Will Swenson) and Fortinbras (Andre Sills) all the while trying to fend off the growing affection of the beautifully demure Ophelia (Zuleikha Robinson), stop murders and palace coups. To quote from Wil himself: ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’.
I didn’t find anything rotten in the table read of Rosen’s script as I thoroughly enjoyed the vocal work of these artists as they took me back to an untrue historical literary account of the ‘other’ Shakespeare, but who the hell cares on that account? Kudos to director Sara Botsford and her creative team (listed at the end) of designers and technicians for keeping me entertained and smiling throughout the just over 2-hour mark.
Final Comments: Great fun and a much-needed pick me up during this interminably long absence from the theatre.
Playing through March 23 through www.muchadoaboutwil.com.
Writer: Dan Rosen; Director and Co-Producer: Sara Botsford; Producers: Richard Middleton, Kelly McCall; Co/Producer and Stage Manager: Chris ‘CB’ Brown’; Online Camera Capture/Editor/Technical Supervisor: Michelle Hanzelova; Photo Director/Web Designer: Britt Arnett; Socal Media MGMT: Denea Buckingham
Cast (and man, oh, man I wish I could watch them perform live!): Oliver Dench, Eric McCormack, Luke Humphrey, Zuleikha Robinson, Lucy Peacock, Colm Feore, Geraint Wyn Davies, Will Swenson, Andre Sills, Christopher Shyer, Erin Karpluk, Kendra Leigh Timmins, Chad Coe, Gerard Plunkett, Manuel Pacific, Ann Harada, Ben Livingston, Jonathan Scarfe