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Nathan Winkelstein is not the first actor-director to trod the boards as the Melancholy Dane, but he is one of the successful ones.

Ript Theater Company's inaugural production of Hamlet boasts a 90-minute running time and four person cast: the second four person Hamlet in as many years (Bedlam having done the feat in rep with Saint Joan before).  With such a sprawling tale and such a limited scale to perform, it was possible going in that this Hamlet might fall literally short. 

Gone is not only Fortinbras - who is frequently excised anyway - but also Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whose loss causes surprisingly few ripples, despite what Tom Stoppard might argue otherwise.  The heart of the play, as director Winkelstein says in his notes, is a focus on the two families, as well as the "types" that exist in Hamlet's world: the Soldier, the Comforter, the Father.

The conceit is straightforward.  Although those who don't know the play may have a few moments of adjusting which character is which if the script doesn't say outright.  Most successful in aiding these character transitions is Chauncy Thomas whose articulation, physical choices, humor, power, and intelligence immediately make his Polonius unrecognizable from his Claudius, even if played in scenes one behind the other.

Lindsay Alexandra Carter gives an admirable Ophelia, although she hasn't quite grown into her own gravitas for Gertrude.  When finally allowed to play a character role, she breathes new life into Osric, which only makes this reviewer sad that Shakespeare didn't write his women as strongly as his clowns.

Ade Otukoya has a good fire and vitality as Laertes and Horatio, but more difficulty separating them as different characters for the audience to understand.  He, too, is excellent as his clown roles, particular his Lead Player and Gravedigger: tools that it would be helpful for him to bring into his angry young men.

And as for the angry young man himself?  Well, caveat spectator, because the role of Hamlet is so intensely personal that you can see a dozen truly competent, perhaps even brilliant Hamlets and remain unmoved if for some reason you don't resonate with the actor on the stage.  But for me, Winkelstein's Hamlet was just the Prince of Denmark I like best: delivering his soliloquies with respect to the verse but without slavishness, honestly asking the questions of the audience, making the old words new again as he puzzles through his predicament.  Winkelstein particularly shines whenever he lets his inner snark out, speaking with an easy conversation and intelligence, a twinkle in his eye that he's cleverer than you, an openness and freedom in his movements that explain his dexterity in the final fight scene (excellently choreographed by Cat Yudain).

It's worth appreciating, too, how Winkelstein cut the script to make a 90-minute Hamlet not just one long soliloquy interrupted by short scenes, but a true sense of ensemble.  A vanity project, this is not.  Each character has the chance to shine and tell their story.  A few pieces do go on too long: Act IV, as always, could be cut in half and half again and I'd be satisfied.  And after a glorious movement piece enacting Ophelia's death, I did not need Gertrude's speech describing the same.  Similarly, although the Osric scene is perhaps a quarter of its length, by the time we round into Act V, I'm happier when it's cut.

There are some smart directing choices here, too (as old Shakespeare fans go crustily to theatres to see What The Director Will Do).  Winkelstein takes care not to let his Hamlet fall into the trap of misogyny - a view that Bedlam did not escape - so that this Hamlet is truly trying to save Ophelia in the nunnery scene, to appeal to his mother's reason in the closet scene.  Even with his occasional flashes of cruelty, they're a lover, a child lashing out: not a grown man assaulting women.  An important distinction in this day and age.  Likewise, the delivery of "Now might I do it pat," when Hamlet chooses not to kill Claudius, is delivered with such intelligence and intelligibility that it's a real stand-out, and explains the actions of the man who might lose the name of action.  Too good to ruin are how the opening stage moment and the ending stage moment bookend, but needless to say, it's a device future directors might think worth stealing.

The sound design by Alan Waters, light design by Paul T. Kennedy, and set design by Melissa Anderson all work in harmony.  Especially for the aforementioned drowning of Ophelia, which is hauntingly realized.  Special mention must go to costume designer Sarah Marie Dixey for see-through and distressed doublets with an edge of punk - and the use of white paint as blood.

All in all, this is a Hamlet well worth seeing, and a theatre company to keep an eye on.  In our current New York theatrical landscape, where "clever" Shakespeare is sometimes held more highly than telling the story cleanly and with emotion, it's refreshing to see a company that manages to do both.  Highly recommended.

Nathan Winkelstein, stars in and directs Ript Theater Company's Hamlet. Playing at the Secret Theatre in Queens through to September 30, 2018.

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All photos courtesy of Reiko Yanagi

Ript Theater Company's cast of Hamlet.  From left to right: Nathan Winkelstein, Ade Otukoya, Chauncy Thomas, and Lindsay Alexandra Carter.

Hamlet (Nathan Winkelstein) and Ophelia (Lindsay Alexandra Carter) in the Nunnery Scene.

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I am a New York City based Classical Theater enthusiast. I have performed, directed and produced classical theater for most of my adult life. I have had the great privilege of serving as associate producer for Red Bull Theater for the past few years assistant directing and performing in a number of their shows. This is my first leap into the unknown of self-producing.

2) This is a four person, 90-minute Hamlet.  What inspired that decision?

Three years ago while re-reading Hamlet I was struck by the family drama at the core of the play and became fascinated by how best to draw this out in a production. As I hewed and chipped away at the text, cringing with each cut line and trying to preserve the verse 3 archetypes started to emerge - The Father, The Soldier, The Lover.
 
Each of these three archetypes serve to punctuate Hamlet's perception of the world. Hamlet views Claudius, Polonius, even the Lead Player, through the lens of his dead father. He views his young companions or enemies - Horatio, Laertes through the soldierly lens of honor and friendship. Finally Gertrude and Ophelia are both defined by Hamlet primarily through love - his romantic love for Ophelia, confused loved for Gertrude and their love for others, most especially Gertrude's for Claudius. 
 
I began to focus my efforts on drawing these archetypes out, which Shakespeare made quite easy, a sign, I hope, that I was on a correct track. Eventually, a 4 person 90-minute Hamlet was born.

3) Why Hamlet?  Why now?

Hamlet, both the character and the play, is about asking questions. Audience leave Hamlet with more questions then when they arrive. They are inspired to stop and think, like Hamlet himself, about their actions and the world at large. In an era of social media and clickbait watching a play about a man who contemplates his decisions and indeed his existence and being forced to contemplate these things in oneself makes Hamlet as vital and current as ever.

4) What is your experience with Hamlet before this?  Are there any iconic actors who have inspired you?
 
Hamlet and I have dance around each other since I was young. I have memories of reading the play curled up on the couch of my mothers law office when I was a kid. In my teenage years I was struck again by this quintessential 'Angry Young Man' play as I think many a teen might be. As I have aged into the role the philosophical aspects of the play have become more cogent. Hamlet ceased to be the clear heroic protagonist in my eyes and became a flawed, hurting young man attempting to accomplish a Herculean task and making a mess of it.

I adore Rory Kinnear's Hamlet. The trust he has in the language to guide him through his performance is extraordinary. In addition to that his trust in himself is astonishing. Hamlet is beloved because the crisis the Hamlet goes through are universal. They are family oriented, loss oriented, jealousy oriented, morality oriented - all issues that anyone on the planet can tap into. This also makes playing him terrifying because you have to accept that YOU are enough. Your way of handling these issues is enough and will fascinate the audience because they live it through you. Rory does that throughout his performance.

5) You're also producing and directing.  Walk us through your process.

Basically its about separating the boxes. Production is its own animal and the concerns there - finances, audience, theater relations - are left at the door of the rehearsal room.
 
Directing and Acting is more difficult to separate. I decided self-direct this project for a couple of reasons. Some logical, some emotional. This is a heavily cut script, cut with a very particular vision in mind. It would have been extremely difficult for another director to come in and fully utilize their abilities with a vision already in place as it was. It wouldn't be fair. So why play Hamlet? Well, first of all I very much wanted to I wont lie about that. Secondly in the off-off world of short rehearsal times and performers needing to work day job and split their attention I felt like I could give this character the time he deserved because I could start on the work months out from performance instead of weeks.
 
All of that said, the double is incredibly difficult. I am fortunate to have an AD in Cat Yudain whose eye I trust and who is not afraid to direct me. I am also extremely lucky in my cast. Lindsay Alexandra-Carter who I first saw performing Rosalind at The Folger ShakespeareTheater is a brilliant, instinctual performer with an incredible acuity with the language who is not afraid of the big scary choices. Ade Otukoya, who I met while we were both performing at The Shakespeare Theater Company is one of the most instinctually brilliant performers I have had the pleasure to work with, his ability to simply exist on stage while fully engaged in the circumstances and the character is astonishing (this sounds easy, trust me, its the hardest thing in the world). Chauncy Thomas is a pro. He is plug and play brilliant. He will make any director look great with his ability to incorporate and justify notes with alacrity and specificity.  Importantly, all three are also excellent at working under collaborative circumstances and sharing ideas while always keeping the end goal in mind. 

6) Tell us a little bit about your new theatre company.

I created Ript Theater Company to be able to produce fast-paced, performer centric classical work. I have grown tired of the semi-prevailing belief that Classical plays need particular concepts to succeed, a belief that is rooted in a lack of faith in the source material. I have complete faith in the classics. Ript  will cut scripts because audiences attention spans and expectations for dramatic work are different now than in Shakespeare's time (or ancient Greece for that matter) but the cuts will always remain true to the structure, language, and purpose of the original text. Combining this text with talented casts who know how to spin the language is the second half of the equation. One of the many reasons I created this Hamlet to be performed only with four performers was that I knew the quality of the roles would increase while the quantity of actors would decrease. This, along with the connections I have made in my work at Red Bull Theater and elsewhere, allows me to go after the quality of actor that I think is often difficult for young companies to garner. Between the quality of the language (the greatest perhaps ever written) and the quality of performers I have two very strong pillars of quality to build upon. To create theater that is modern but loyal to what made it great to begin with.

7) Anything else you'd like to add?

Small theater companies life blood is ticket sales. Support your local theater groups wherever they are. In todays theatrical climate it is the artists building themselves up now in off-off broadway who will be most well equipped to handle the looming financial difficulties in our industry as we are squeezed by governments and large grant organizations. Go see shows, some might be bad, but rarely will they be boring, and some may very well be great!

Director-Actor, Nathan Winkelstein takes center stage in Hamlet.

Hamlet plays at The Secret Theatre, Queens, NYC from Sept. 13-30.  Presented by RIPT Theater Company.

 Tickets here.

Nathan Winkelstein as Hamlet, confronts Claudius (Chauncy Thomas) in the confessional.

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RIPT THEATER COMPANY is a New York City based company devoted to bringing classic tales to vibrant life through innovative productions, new adaptations and performer centric work. We believe in the power of the words of the great classicists, be they Shakespeare, Moliere, Aphra Behn or Euripedes to move us and deepen our understanding of our world and our times.Our inaugural production is HAMLET (What Dreams May Come). Four performers embody all of the characters in this innovative new Hamlet; a fast paced, non-stop whirlwind of mind and body as rational thought battles with hysteria.

FEATURING
Lindsay Alexandra-Carter*
Ade Otukoya
Chauncy Thomas*
Nathan Winkelstein*
*Actors appearing courtesy of Actors Equity

Shakespeare's earliest history plays have been enjoying a well-deserved resurgence in popularity recently, with productions in repertory or condensed scripts becoming all the rage in New York City for the past several years.  Thank The Hollow Crown series, perhaps, for intriguing American audiences with Shakespeare's historical octology, which culminates chronologically with the fall of saintly King Henry VI, and the ascension of that murderous hunchback, King Richard III.

What some may not know, however, is that Tricky Dick's story does not begin with his titular play, nor with winters of discontent, but rather with Henry VI, Parts 2 & 3, where Richard, son of the usurping Duke of York ascends from his father's ill-fated reign to cut a swathe through England - including Richard III's murder of King Henry VI himself.

Austin Pendleton, intrigued by tracing the rise of Richard from son of a usurping king to being a usurping king himself, has woven together highlights from all three plays into one 2.5 hour epic, featuring Matt de Rogatis as Richard III, and Pendleton himself as Henry VI.

The cast is large, the concept Brechtian - but somehow Wars of the Roses never quite gets off the ground.

The two main issues are the lack of focus, which is then impeded by uneven acting throughout.  When the play is hyper-stylized, the show works wonderfully well: such as the Mayor of London scene being played without a Mayor of London and delivered straight to the audience, or the final battle which weaves together with Richard III's fatal dream, bringing on the ghosts of those he's slain speaking their own lines from his soliloquy, and ending brilliantly in blackout calling out his kingdom for a horse.

Unfortunately, much of the remainder of the play abandons actors on the stage to varying degrees of success, as they're asked to embody the text with almost no movement whatsoever.  Some actors rise brilliantly to the occasion: Pete McElligott positively shines as Clarence, Richard's middle brother, making Clarence's overly long death speech nuanced and necessary.  He even manages to make his own backstory - left out of this cut of the play - still intelligble.  While his death scene proper, he fills by turns with gallows humor and broken eyes.  Greg Pragel, also doubling as Fight Choreographer and Clifford, is particularly good as Buckingham - Richard's crony and chief strategist - playing him as an uptight, smiling, smiling damned villain fighting against his own vulnerable humanity in a desperate and futile bid to stay alive in Richard's bloody court.  Joanna Leister as Queen Elizabeth - here given her character's full arc from widow importuned by a King, through to last woman standing in defiance of kings - is by turns witty and fierce, milking even overly long scenes for every pointed barb.  Watching her, you believe that this is a woman who will survive a bloodbath, even as she's forced to bear the blood of her children on her hands.  It's thrilling.

As for our kings, Pendleton gives a convincing Henry VI - a role that suits his mild-mannered and thoughtful delivery.  Even if, somehow, in this cut of the play Henry feels even more extraneous to his parts of the show than he usually does.  Matt de Rogatis gives a credible Richard III, easing into his version of Tricky Dick as the play progresses and he allows Richard's manic lust for power to dominate.  However, in some of the earlier parts of the show, de Rogatis loses himself in his attempt to craft an arc.  Shakspeare's Richard - whether he's the son of York, Duke of Gloucester, or murderous monarch - is never anything but wicked.  So the motion against text is noticeable.  De Rogatis also shines more in his dialogue scenes than in his monologues - which is a difficult position since, like Iago, Richard is a character of several soliloquies.  Mention should be given to Michael Villastrigo as King Edward, Richard's elder brother.  Although the focus is not on him, Villastrigo still manages to convey his character's impressive if truncated arc, particularly proving himself in the wooing of the future Queen Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, while listening to the play, I was struck with the simple fact that, at their heart, these plays are very early Shakespeare.  That means, uncut, the young playwright relies far too much on extremely long speeches and soliloquies, or even longer scenes that begin repeating themselves half-way through their own arguments.  The fact that I had never noticed this before may be due to the quality of actor I've had the pleasure of seeing in these roles before - but also to the fact that every production I've seen of any of the history plays employs judicious to drastic editorializing.  While, therefore, it was interesting to see several scenes play out in their First Folio entirety, the fact that even the best of the actors on stage struggled to keep the audience's attention once we returned to the same argument for a second or third time, means that this play - which is predicated on giving us the "good parts version" of the Richard story - could have used significantly more verbal pruning.

It is also worth noting, particularly in a post-#MeToo world and in the multi-cultural heart of New York City, that this cast - 15 people in total - was not only male-heavy, but except for one minor actor, entirely Caucasian.  Now, obviously, Shakespearean theatre can often bring all the Europeans to the yard, but I would encourage all classical theatre companies working in New York to be cognizant of the bias towards casting a lot of white men.  It is noticed.

The concept of Wars of the Roses is intriguing.  And for those who don't know Shakespeare and who might be looking for a quick primer of who killed whom, Wars of the Roses might just fit the bill.  But for those who love Shakespeare, who remember Sir Ian McKellan's indelible performance, or who've seen multiple variations of the history plays, they might do better to snag tickets to the next time Henry VI and Richard III are playing in rep.  Pass.

The War of the Roses: Henry VI & Richard III by William Shakespeare, directed by Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch now playing at the 123 Bank Street Thatre, NYC, through August 19th.  (Pictured: Matt de Rogatis plays Richard III.  All photos courtesy of Chris Loupos.)

TICKETS: www.proveavillian.com

Greg Pragel and Matt de Rogatis as Buckingham and Richard III.

Matt de Rogatis and Austin Pendleton as Richard III and Henry VI.

Hudson Warehouse is celebrating their 15th Year performing classical and classically-inspired theatre in style.  Like true New Yorkers, this ambitious company is in the middle of a four year project: dramatizing Dumas' Musketeers trilogy, beginning with last year's Three Musketeers, this year's The Three Musketeers: Twenty Years Later, and next year's The Man in the Iron Mask, followed up in 2020 by The Count of Monte Cristo.

While I missed last year's offering - feeling that I knew the original story almost too well from numerous Hollywood offering - after seeing this year's installment, I find myself eagerly looking forward to the entire quatrology (and hoping that Hudson Warehouses stages the whole thing in rep some day!).

If The Three Musketeers is 17th Century Avengers, and the first book is the equivalent of those same Avengers constantly assembling - that is youthful D'Artagan, upstanding Athos, drunken Porthos and religious-ish Aramis - The Three Musketeers: 20 Years Later is equivalent to Marvel's Civil War.

The plot, smartly cut down to a trim 90 minutes of swashbuckling and international politics by playwright, Susane Lee, picks up with a new foreign Cardinal Mazarin (Joseph Cordaro)  advising the widowed Queen Anne (Karen Collazzo) and the petulant Prince Louis (Samuel O'Sullivan) on how to quelle the popular uprising of overtaxed peasants.  Fearing for the Queen's life, Mazarin finds the Musketeer, D'Artagnan (Jake Lesh) and tasks him to locate his other three Musketeers to guard the Queen's life.

Simultaneously, Mordaunt, the dispossessed son of the the assassin, Milady, comes seeking revenge for his mother's execution at the hands of D'Artagnan and company.  Played by Ian Potter, last seen in The Trojan Women as the smiling, uptight and sinister Greek ambassador, Mordaunt has aligned himself with Cromwell's machinations in England, helping to overthrow the Catholic King, Charles Stuart (Griffin Stanton-Ameisen).  And it's this second plot which brings us to Civil War-like complications between our favorite boys in blue.

After gathering together Athos (Joseph Hamel), Aramis (Nicholas Martin-Smith, pulling double duty as director), and Porthos (David Palmer Brown), with the help of the comical sweetmaker, Grimauld (Samuel Shurtleff), the Musketeers quarrel about the right course of action to take.  D'Artangan and Porthos are lured by the Cardinal's promise of status and titles, while the priestly Aramis - still comically struggling to keep chaste and live poorly - and Athos - now concerned for his young ward and bastard son, Raoul (Derek Martin) -wants a noble cause, not a noble title.

The Musketeers split up, Athos and Aramis joining with Lord De Winter (Bob Wasinger) to try to save King Charles' life and crown, while D'Artagnan and Porthos are sent by the Cardinal to Cromwell (Joseph Dalfonso), accompanied by the murderous Mordaunt, to help bring the English crown down.  Meeting in England, the Musketeers do their best to stop Mordaunt, Cromwell, and their Scottish ally Lord Leven (Justin Broido), as well as working as double agents to save their brothers-in-arms lives.  However, they're ultimately unsuccessful as Charles is captured and killed - but not before his Queen and daughter, both named Henrietta (Lisa LaGrande and Deborah Bjornsti respectively) manage to escape to France to take refuge there.

There's also a subplot, teasing The Man in the Iron Mask, about the tension between twin brothers, Prince Louis and Prince Phillip (Patrick Leddy) over the title and the affections of Princess Henrietta, which receives its own mid-credits (or in this case, mid-bows) scene and makes this reviewer excited for next year's installment.

It's a testament to the whole production team's work that this sprawling epic works as well as it does.  Susane Lee judiciously cuts Dumas' original tome (which several cast members admitted was nearly unreadable), managing to balance a politically dense plot into a tight running time - even adding in links to the previous play and the one forthcoming - as well as including some historical tidbits from her own research.

Nicholas Martin-Smith, also doubling as Aramis, directs the frankly cinematic play with a deft hand, making good use of the Soldiers and Sailor's Monument space, with actors running through the audience, taking flying leaps off of balustrades, and managing to exit France and enter England with a few short steps.

Company costumer, Emily Rose Parman, somehow manages to outdo herself again (there's a reason she keeps winning awards and nominations!), with lace-up pants and knee high boots, plumed cockades and curled hair, bows and crosses and ribbons and rubies for both genders, corsets and bum rolls and tapestry, oh my.  (Seriously: go just for the costumes.)

As for those swashes needing buckling, Fight Director, Katrina Art, proves that she knows how to whip up an army or a skirmish on the spot: with actors dashing about with rapiers and daggers, enough to make any girlish bosom dance with glee.  (And the girls fight along with the guys, thank you very much.)  With additional fight direction by Nathan Oesterle, Art's ability is to not only stage exciting combat but to continue to tell the story seamlessly, so that our first mêlée not only frees the villainous Rochefort, but also introduces us to the French frondeurs (revolutionaries), and blends seamlessly into the introduction of half-brothers: the wide-eyed Raoul, and the wicked Mordaunt...as they both tend to an unfortunate Executioner (David Arthur Bachrach) who spills the beans about the Musketeers who executed Milady twenty years earlier.  Phew!

With such a sprawling narrative and, by any standard, impressive cast roster, audiences will be required to remember a little bit of their French Louis Quatorze and English Carolignian royal history, as well as pull on their understanding of genealogy to sort out how Queen Henrietta is related to Queen Anne (hint: they're sisters-in-law).  Likewise, as with any Shakespearean history play, a few characters wear a couple of different names - although playwright Lee manages to help the audience out by repeating the name we're supposed to remember, such as Athos, Aramis, and De Winter.  Those who may only remember some of the more fantastical cinematic film adaptations of The Three Musketeers are encouraged to listen closely to early exposition - very helpful - that adheres more closely to the book and not to 17th century fantastical zeppelins and kung-fu Musketeering.

A few stand-out performances require recognition:  Ian Potter as Mordaunt is excellent.  Potter seems to excel at characters who fume...whether that's kept to a polite smoulder as the Grecian ambassador, or given full-on British sneers and restless fingers, as is his Mordaunt.  He's also an excellent fighter, which comes in handy in his final show-down with his mother's ex-lover and executioner, Athos.

Athos, played by Joseph Hamel, strikes that perfect balance of the man who was Errol Flynn in his youth, aging gracefully and with his eyes open to something better, truer, worth fighting for.

And Joseph Cordaro as Cardinal Mazarin  is a positive delight, toeing a line that could have easily slipped over into the sneering, Tim Curry-esque, moustache twirling villain, instead proving positively convincing as a man whose sole interest is in preserving France...even at the expense of her allies.  He's the smiling, smiling damned villain, and we wouldn't want him any other way.

David Palmer Brown as Porthos and Nicholas Martin-Smith as Aramis are also quite good, and the camaraderie all four Musketeers have is genuine.  Samuel Shurtleff as Grimauld proves himself deftly with the Sancho Panza-type role, spitting out exposition and jokes with equal aplomb, acting as the audience's guide when necessary.

Audiences are encouraged to arrive at least 15-20 minutes early, since there are only two more performances after being rained out last weekend.  The performances are free, but bring an extra $20 to put in the basket as it comes around.  And make sure to mark your calendar's for next year's Man in the Iron Mask!  As for Three Musketeers: Twenty Years Later?  Recommended.

The Three Musketeers: 20 Years Later by Susan Lee, presented by Hudson Warehouse, performing through Sunday, July 29.  FREE performances at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, on the Upper West Side.

Details here.

The Musketeer celebrate their victory.

20 years later, Milady's son (Ian Potter) is out for revenge against the Three Musketeers.  (Photo courtesy of Lisa LaGrande.)

Queens-in-Law, Karen Collazzo as Queen Anne and Lisa LaGrande as Queen Henrietta.

A quiet night in the American south.  The air is hot, thick with the sound of crickets and mosquitoes, and the sense of unseen stars over lush farmland.

A woman sits in a wheeled walker, at one with the silence.  A mosquito comes to sit on her arm: a familiar companion.  She smiles at the visitor and then gently blows it off into the night sky.

Welcome to Montpelier.

In Kelley Nicole Girod's new play, the silences and images of the six lives entwined on the titular stretch of land are as weighted as the rich, rolling poetry of the playwright's language.  In a series of leisurely scenes, the audience is introduced to the inhabitants of Montpelier:

Miss Janice (Geany Masai), the disabled woman who nevertheless commands from her walker with all the grace and fiery conviction of a rightful Queen.  She has lived life; she has lost children; she is waiting for her prodigals to return, having been a prodigal herself.

Felonius (Donovan Christie, Jr.) a dapper son of Montpelier, estranged from his wife and children, cast out into the unbearable silences of his hometown, looking for connections - even those forbidden to him; even those he's afraid to ask for.

Ruby (Carole Monferdini) and Kacky (Tandy Cronyn), two white women haunted by the death of a boy their husbands killed for having the audacity to smile at the women while being black.  The women's language is Flannery O'Connor: hypocritical, puritanical, anxious.  Two women judging everyone else's reflections for fear of looking at themselves.

And Frances (Alisha Spielmann) and Boniface (Lamar K. Cheston), a young couple on the run from the cruelty of this world.  She, a white woman and very "woke" - but still unable to understand her lover's visceral plight.  He, suffering trauma at the hands of the police, longing for a better world, a Creole world, a world of mud and Spanish moss to spare them from the hatred that pursues them.

Over the course of an entirely too short running time, we hear their stories, learn their griefs, watch as each character struggles with unexpected and unearned moments of grace, even in the middle of their own brokenness.

Director Andrew Block has some nice stage moments, particularly in the overlapping imagery of mosquitoes as friend or foe; the hopeful anticipation of passing cars and outside life; two separate scenes overlapping at a moment of crisis.  However, perhaps because of the nature of a festival show with shortened rehearsal and tech times, some of the direction misses the subtlety and, frankly, silence - the leisure - that Girod's script invites.

Stand-out performances come from Geany Masai and Lamar K. Cheston as Miss Janice and Boniface respectively.  One with all the power of Mt. Vesuvius at home, the other with all the coil just of Mt. Vesuvius.  Girod doesn't hold back with those character's lived experiences either, but lets her own voice seep through more powerfully through those character's mouths - and the result is convicting.  Like any master of the form, Girod's doublespeaking characters - especially Felonius and Miss Ruby - are hilarious and heartbreaking.  So unaware of all they reveal by what they seek to conceal.

Girod's command of language is exquisite.  More poetic than Tennessee Williams, more hopeful than August Wilson, with the searing grace of Flannery O'Connor, This Stretch of Montpelier as much a treat to listen to as it is to watch.  This production, the first and still, in someways, in a state of fluidity, promises beautiful things as it continues to develop.  Watching, I could easily see it on the Great White Way, giving Denzel a run for his money.  But for  now, come on down to a quiet world of personal purgatories, and discover a truly American playwright while you can still afford ticket prices. Strongly recommended.

This Stretch of Montpelier by Kelley Nicole Girod is presented through Planet Connections Theatre Festival, through Sunday, August 5, 2018.

Tickets and information here.

Geany Masai as Miss Janice and Donovan Christie, Jr. as Felonius.

Carole Monferdini as Ruby and Tandy Cronyn as Kacky.

 As You Like It is a strange show...and I love it.

On the one hand, it begins with a convoluted subplot about usurpation, betrayal, primogeniture, and an inexplicable wrestling match.  At which point, Shakespeare proceeds to throw all that to the wind and spend the remaining four acts wandering through the forest with a superabundance of clowns, random priests, a few extra dukes and some songsters, the requisite cross-dressings, a whole bunch of awful poetry and love.  Structurally, it's a mess of a play.

But on the other hand, As You Like It gives us one of Shakespeare's best heroines, Rosalind, with a wit quick enough to challenge the Melancholy Dane to a word-off, as well the timeless speech by the melancholy Jaques declaring that "All the world's a stage," and a veritable carte blanche to turn the mess into a musical.

As You Like It invites serious dramaturgical meddling, which can either perform disastrously or, as in the case of Hamlet Isn't Dead's (HID) all-female summer production, can illuminate Shakespeare's themes of this great pageant of life.

With a script cut by stage director and Artistic Director, David Andrew Laws, this As You Like It seamlessly trims Shakespeare's fat, interweaving his disparate sylvan scenes, combining or excising extraneous characters, and letting "All the world's a stage" guide us like Henry V's Prologue through the play.

The diverse cast is uniformly excellent, and it's a relief to see women+ of every ethnicity and body shape shine in comic turns and heartfelt moments.  Tay Bass, last seen as Helena in Joe Raik's All One Forest, gives a delightful Rosalind, fully grounded and fully elated, with a physical fluidity and buoyance.  Rachel Caplan as Orlando more than matches her - in fact, this may have been one of my favorite Orlandos I've seen.  Somehow capturing the spirit of "Just this guy, y'know?" with ease and confident sexuality. 

Caroline Aimetti as Celia leans into the eye-rolling and sisterly mockery, capable of throwing herself into love with the reformed Oliver, played by Briana Sakamoto, who manages to make a transition from uptight jealous brother to giddy lover with conviction.

I could watch Kelly Blaze as Jaques for hours.  She owns the spotlight without stealing it.  Her command and intelligence are on fierce display, and it's only a shame any of her lines were cut for time.  Lauren Wainwright as Duke Senior and Anna Stacy as Amiens serve more as benevolent musicians accompanying this midsummer night's romp than characters in their own right - a missed opportunity, perhaps, as both women are charming and strong.  And yet, I wouldn't want to lose a moment of their musical ability, including some excellent violin counterpoints from Wainwright.

Ashil Lee, also late from All One Forest (and upcoming in TTF's The Fall of Lady M) continues to impress.  Whether playing Puck in All One Forest or, here, the country bumpkin and hopeless romantic, Silvius, her incredible ability to fully inhabit characters - evident from her accent choices to her impressive physicality - is a masterwork in action.  Lily Waldron matches her as Phebe, making some smart lingual choices to make well-worn speeches seem new again.

Perhaps the absolute highlight of the show, however, are our villains.  HID always excels in their clown characters, and Maya Martin-Udry and Jenny Grober as the evil Duke Frederick and the Kronk-lite Charles the Wrestler are standouts.  Without giving their schtick away, everything you've ever loved best about your favorite Disney over-the-top villain and sidekick, you will love about this dynamic duo.

And last, but certainly faaaar from least, Laurel Andersen trades in her wry Rosalind from All One Forest to take on the heart-on-his-sleeve Adam, Orlando's faithful retainer.  This role is so easily ignored, since the character slips off into that eternal slumber half-way through the play, but Andersen is the master of making you care.  And Laws' direction for Adam's slow journey across that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns is tender, sweet, aching and painful.

If all of this isn't enough to tempt you to flood HID's final weekend of performance, there's the fantabulous music - probably HID's best to date - composed by Singer Joy and performed by the whole cast.  And if that's not enough, come just for the mossy grass floor and the fairy lighted ceiling.

I've been critical of HID's giddy productions in the face of some of Shakespeare's darker moments.  But this production gave a glimmer that as HID is growing with Shakespeare's mature canon, their own style is maturing without losing any of their inherent effervescence.  If I had one piece of advice to give my friends over at Hamlet Isn't Dead is that they can trust those quiet, haunting moments to stand on their own - as much as they trust their wild sense of joy.

But for this reviewer who loves As You Like It so much, she generally hates productions of the same...I can confidently say that this is one As You Like It that you will LOVE.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

As You Like It plays at El Barrio Art Space, 215 East 99th Street, NYC, through Saturday, July 28, 2018.

Tickets through Eventbrite.

Lily Waldron as Phebe and Caroline Aimetti as Celia in As You Like It.

Rachel Caplan as Orlando and Tay Bass as Rosalind in As You Like It.

Going in to see Hudson Warehouse's production of Trojan Women by Charles Mee, adapted from the Greek play by Euripedes, with additional material by director Nicholas Martin-Smith, I had to steel myself for what I presumed would be 90 minutes of unrelenting gloom.  Even for someone who's invested in feminist issues in arts and entertainment, it seemed I was in for a daunting afternoon.

Walking in to the alley set-up of the playing space, my concerns seemed justified, as several war-torn women were scattered about on the floor: listening to music, playing cards with scraps of paper, comforting a child.  The world had been destroyed, and we were invited to sit contemplatively inside it.

And yet imagine my relief when the play began: and Danielle Cohn as Helen of Troy stepped forth in a black slip and kitten heels, singing a jazz tune and waltzing through the battered women to take her place reading a magazine and waiting in a lawn chair.

This, then, is Martin-Smith's vision: not unrelenting gloom - although the play pulls no punches as woman after woman comes forth, explaining what it's like to see their children ripped from their arms - but something softer.  A quilt, a tapestry, a weaving of song and dance and sorrow and grief and horror and pain and ecstasy and innocence and loss.  In a word: catharsis.

To single out any member of this ensemble seems an act of needless individualism.  It's clear, even without chatting with the actors after, that this group worked well together throughout the process to bring a single vision to the stage.  Still:

Roxann Kraemer as Hecuba does her best work yet, grounding the chorus of women as the deposed monarch, while Lisa LaGrande gives a soul-gutting performance as Andromache whose infant is ripped from her side.  The aforementioned Danielle Cohn as Helen of Troy is by turns hilarious, opportunistic, and convincing as the woman who will do anything to survive - and does.  As a chorus, Emily Sarah Cohn, Ayako Ibaraki, Karen Collazzo and Linda Elizabeth create distinct characters - aided by costuming by the exquisitely talented Emily Rose Parman, here doing some of her best work by far. 

Hecuba's two daughters, Polyxena, played by Patrina Cruana, and the "mad prophetess" Cassandra, played by Callan Suozzi-Rearic, each give stellar performances.  Caruana taking on the fearlessness that only innocence can give, making her demise that much more lamentable.  Suozzi-Rearic astounds as Cassandra: entering in a powerful blast, full of manic glee and fierce determination, bravely sporting a hospital gown and broken IV.  Although her scene is short, it feels like an entire play in itself and is worth the price of admission alone.

But what of the men?  Mee and Martin-Smith are unrelentingly unkind to their own sex.  And while some of the tirades against men seem a little trite, other parts of the exploration of what can drive a man to commit atrocities are full of poetry, pain and danger.  Thomas Daniels and Zack Krajnyak as two soldiers are appropriately vile, leering over the women and positively rejoicing in the rapacious nature that war affords them.  Ian Potter, in a star turn as the "civilized white man," the ambassador Talthybius, is positively chilling in his accountant-smiling explanations of why the women must submit themselves to slavery.  It's obvious his character thinks that he is above his two apish companions; and yet Potter allows the beast inside him to rise ever so casually in his eyes as he gazes too long at a captor, or "accidentally" trods on a woman's few belongings.

There's no hiding the beast in Caleb Carlson's Menelaus, who enters bare-chested and growling, sporting a leopard skin cape.  It's a bit much, but Menelaus is a bit much: having started a ten year war just to get back a woman who doesn't want him.  Conversely, Nate Mattingly as Aeneas gives us perhaps our only glimpse into how war can torment men, too.  It's a shame that Charles Mee has one of the few heroes of the Trojan War (such as any of them can be heroes) termed a coward and goaded on by Hecuba - who has now known such loss - to go forth and continue the act of war against the world.  One wonders if the same play in a woman's hands would have had Hecuba offering different advice to end bloodshed rather than continue it.  Still: any glimmer of hope is welcome by the end of a Greek tragedy!

Special credit must go to Linda Elizabeth, doubling as make-up/special effects designer.  The wounds, scratches, bloodstains, and all are incredibly effective, even up close.  Patrick Harman and Nathan Oesterle's fight direction is excellent, chilling, and precise - important factors in a play about violence.  The set and sound design help create an immersive experience for the audience, that is much appreciated.

Hudson Warehouse Theater Company's production of Trojan Women is excellent, and deserves to sell out its remaining shows.  Highly Recommended.

Trojan Women plays at Goddard riverside Bernie Wohl center, 647 Columbus Avenue, NYC, through Sunday, March 25, 2018.

Tickets through Eventbrite.

Roxann Kraemer as Hecuba, Thomas Daniels as Bill, Zack Krajnyak as Ray Bob, and Ian Potter as Talthybius in Trojan Women. (Photo courtesy of Susane Lee.)

Danielle Cohn and Caleb Carlson as Helen of Troy and Menelaus in  Trojan Women.  (Photo courtesy of Susane Lee.)

Read the Companion Article: "A Rebellious Romance: A Defense of Girly Narratives"

Available on Pop Feminist!

"There is a kind of merry betwixt [them]."

Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare's most beloved rom-coms, gets the Hamlet Isn't Dead (HID) treatment as the exuberant company kicks off their 2018 season, now housed in the Balcony Theatre at the Center at West Park.

True to HIDiot fashion, there's plenty of music provided by James Powers (Balthazar), Thea Lammers (Margaret) and Maureen Fenninger (Friar), who act as a delightful Greek chorus to the outrageous action on the stage, accompanied by truly rousing tunes by James Overton.  Although this new space forces director James Rightmyer, Jr. into a proscenium set-up, he still manages to find moments of audience interaction and playing spaces among the spectators for his enthusiastic cast.

Long-time HID veterans Morgan Hooper (Verges/Don John, previously Richard II) and Megan Greener (Dogberry, who shone as the titular Henry V) steal the show, with some hilarious antics involving imaginary modes of transportation that in other circumstances wouldn't work, but in their capable hands prove some of the funniest gags throughout the night.  John-Alexander Sakelos (Borachio), and Joe Regan (Don Pedro), acquit themselves well in their roles.  While Heaven Stevens (credited as "Ursula," but taking Antonio's lines, too, and creating the character of Hero's mother) and James Michael Armstrong (Leonato, last seen as Falstaff) work wonders together as Hero's parents, ranging from comical to heartbreak over the course of the play.

Most impressively, Regina Renee Russell as Hero, and Noah Ruff as Claudio (last seen being very French in Merry Wives), take the difficult task of making their storyline of misogyny and misunderstanding still sympathetic in a #MeToo world.  Russell imbues her Hero with an enthusiasm and groundedness that's refreshing to see.  This is a Hero who will be able to hold her own.  While Ruff wisely leans into male swagger and almost unconscious privilege, allowing the commentary on the dangers of the patriarchy to shine through with little effort.  Yet, when Claudio is required to make amends, Ruff imbues his turn of heart with a beautiful gravitas.

Shakespeare lovers will know that although the plot of Much Ado actually revolves around Claudio's mistrust of the innocent Hero...everyone actually goes to the play to see the war of wits between estranged lovers, Benedick and Beatrice.  So how are our favorite sparring partners?  Individually, Michael Thatcher as Benedick and Hayley Palmer as Beatrice acquit themselves well.  Thatcher's use of Shakespeare's language is natural and nuanced; he commands the stage with ease every time he steps on it.  Hayley Palmer is his equal, particularly in mining the script for every double and triple entendre.  Both make good work of every moment of clown, from their gulling scenes to the last exchange of lover letters.  And yet, at least for me, as much as they shone while apart, I didn't quite get the crackle between them.  Left alone with very little blocking for their big emotional scenes, they tended to stay on their own sides of the stage - which may be more a consideration for the director than for the actors themselves.

Overall, though, the cut of the play and the direction, both credited to Executive Director and Co-Founder James Rightmyer, Jr., is smart, sleek, and full of fun.  Rightmyer tends to have a knack in streamlining Shakespeare's works, and Much Ado is no exception.  However, it's been a few years since a HID project was so fully under his command, and it's nice to have him back in the director's chair again.

Hamlet Isn't Dead is dedicated to producing the works of Shakespeare in the chronological order in which they were written.  With Much Ado About Nothing we hit an interesting marker in the canon: Shakespeare the playwright is maturing, as evidenced by the tough material even in this rom-com.  Material that's only going to become more difficult, more nuanced, more serious with every passing play.  In days past, such as with Rightmyer's brilliant direction of all three Henry VI plays, or with their bloody Titus Andronicus directed by Artistic Director and Co-Founder, David Andrew Laws, HID has proven that they are more than capable of playing not only the goofy but the grave in Shakespeare's texts. Much Ado About Nothing is perhaps best served by treating Claudio's misogyny lightly - as this production does.  But it does raise the question of how HID will approach Shakespeare's maturity of material as they make their way through the canon.  Personally, this reviewer would love to see the gentlemen of Hamlet Isn't Dead strive to find a happier medium between the merry and the melancholy as we draw closer and closer to the titular play itself.

But for now, it's fun to visit Messina where we can still have a dance before the serious business of getting married, and where our villains always announce themselves and can be dealt with on another day.  Recommended.

Much Ado About Nothing plays at The Center at West Park, 165 West 86th Street, NYC, through Saturday, March 24, 2018.

Tickets through Eventbrite.

James Powers (Balthazar), Morgan Hooper (Verges) and Megan Greener (Dogberry) steal the show with their music and antics.  (Photo courtesy of Hamlet Isn't Dead.)

Hayley Palmer as Beatrice and Michael Thatcher as Benedick in HID's Much Ado About Nothing.  (Photo courtesy of Hamlet Isn't Dead.)

Read the Companion Article: "A Rebellious Romance: A Defense of Girly Narratives"

Available on Pop Feminist!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that any well-known line, frequently repeated, becomes a parody of itself.

That was the danger that playwright-actor Kate Hamill faced when adapting Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  With so many large and small screen adaptations already available, and an ardent fan base ready to recite along, yet another new take on old material could easily become redundant.

Being a Short History of Kate Hamill's Work, a Digression

Fans of Hamill's work, which includes her wildly successful Sense and Sensibility and Vanity Fair, both directed by Bedlam's kinetic enthusiast, Eric Tucker, know that any new Hamill play will include moments of mayhem, a signature small cast transforming into a variety of characters, modern song and dance, and elements of cirque - so that at least in terms of staging, anything Hamill-approved will never be staid.

Sense and Sensibility, which enjoyed four extensions in its latest NYC run, used wheeled chairs, moving lattices, forced perspective, and every trick in the proverbial book to show both the wildness and strict social convention of Regency England: elements which can be lost in ye olde cravatted productions.  As Hamill revealed In an interview with the New Yorker, her guiding light for Sense and Sensibility was: "Do you break the rules or follow them?"

Yet in that play, as in the carnival inspired Vanity Fair (also directed by Eric Tucker), while the poetry of Hamill's underlying philosophy was always present, the story was often sacrificed for the spectacle.  Important plot beats were buried beneath a physical and audible whirligig of unnecessary commotion, and delicately written scenes were left without any direction at all.

With each adaptation, however, Hamill's ownership over the material has grown.  While I found her take on Sense and Sensibility fairly straightforward, I was excited by the more authorial take and philosophic questions she raised in the morally ambiguous Vanity Fair.  Which Hamill would show up this time, I wondered.  Along with every Janeite's underlying question: Will you illuminate Austen or destroy her?

Wherein We Judge Ms Hamill's Adaptation,  with the Haughtiness of Lady DeBourgh

Being as impecunious as one of the Bennet sisters, I hadn't taken the opportunity to see Hamill's latest Austen outing until recently, when through a series of Dickensian coincidences, I was invited as a friend's plus one.  Never one to turn down a free ticket, I went with arms crossed, ready to see either a too-precious or a too-irreverent production.

The play began, as is typical for Hamill, with the whole cast singing a modern song, quickly establishing who the couples were, as well as Lizzy's reluctance to play the game of love, and Darcy's discomfort with group activities.  So far, so expected.

But just when I would have expected someone to intone Austen's universally praised first line, instead we were treated to some invented dialogue from Mrs Bennet (Nance Williamson) explaining how marriage wasn't so much about love as it was about the game of love.  The daughters took their places in what we suddenly realized was both a parlour floor and a boxing ring, with each sister reacting differently to the prospect of competing.  So that moments later, around the time John Tufts transforms from the emo-inspired Mary Bennet to the puppy dog Mr Bingley, I was sold.

     A Criticism of the Creators, Largely Favourable

What Kate Hamill and new collaborator, director Amanda Dehnert achieve is nothing less than a bold, open-heart exploration of Jane Austen's text, more true to the spirit of the original than any adaptation I've witnessed thus far, and yet wholly original to Hamill's madcap approach to the classics.  What so many of the author's devotees forget is that Austen was writing satire, biting social commentary - and her work is anything but safe.

Hamill takes the bull by the dramaturgical horns, including an extended metaphor about bells (yes, you read that right; no, not necessarily wedding) that rings subtly through the text until it becomes fully audible in Mr Darcy's first proposal.  Where I expected to recite along with famous dialogue - such as at the Netherfield Ball - I was instead treated to Hamill's illumination of the same, mixed in with Austen's prose.  Bits of famous dialogue were transposed to other scenes where they rested comfortably, rather like dance partners where one gives way so the other can shine.

Keeping with the stage language that Hamill built with Tucker, Dehnert incorporates double-casting, music and dance, cirque and stage tricks, but unlike some of Tucker's work, everything serves the moment beautifully.  Gone is the mania in favor of mischievous metaphor.  And instead of abandoning her actors during profound moments of stillness and ache, the cast and crew find aspects of awkward hilarity within the raw crisis.

     A Criticism of the Cast, Entirely Pleased

The cast is uniformly excellent, beginning with Hamill's turn as Lizzy Bennet.  In a far cry from the elegant wit of her artistic predecessors, Hamill's Lizzy is too brazen in company, too outspoken, too vivacious, too biting - in other words, too human.  This is by far my favorite turn by Hamill (she played Marianne in Sense and Sensibility and Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair), because she has written herself, without mask, without beauty - raw, real, vulnerable and smart. 

Hamill's actual life partner and frequent collaborator, Jason O'Connell, who shone with agonized yearning in Sense and Sensibility, is back as Mr Darcy, and could not be better cast.  Whether painfully attempting the robot at a dance party, or frustrated in his inability to make this infernal woman see that he is simply right, O'Connell's Darcy manages to avoid the trap of playing the aloof ideal, instead imbuing his character with all the rigidity of an authoritarian blogger suddenly caught in the open.  His first proposal is thing of awkward beauty, as we see just how giddy it is for this man to allow himself to feel, albeit with the worst possible language at the worst possible time.

Chris Thorn as Mr Bennet is the warm personality every adaptation seems to conjure up.  But it's as the plain Charlotte Lucas that Thorn truly thrives.  Hamill's text allows this Charlotte, usually a figure of restraint, to be the mean girl - the woman who knows she's plain, and so retreats behind catty remarks that everyone will excuse in pity.  The deep pain of her unfortunate marriage to Mr Collins, and the absolute hilarity of her friendship with Lizzy are the heart of every scene they share.  While a man in drag as the "plain Jane" could easily be played for laughs, Thorn goes for nuance and reality.

John Tufts manages to switch - miraculously at times - between dour Mary Bennet and enthusiastic Mr Bingley with a single flip of the hair.  While Hamill's script wrings out happily and quite satisfactorily every puppy metaphor possible for Bingley's story-arc, unsurprisingly it's in the role of Mary Bennet that Tufts shines.  (Hamill has declared that her intention as a playwright is to create more vibrant roles for women, and it shows.)  Played with an edge of a morose vampire with self-righteous idealism, Mary manages to be at once piteable and mockable - a compliment that may be paid to every member of the cast and crew.  And the very line that Austen's best work treads.

As Bingley's paramour, Amelia Pedlow charms as Jane Bennet, the over-demure sister of the house, whose meekness nearly loses her the game of love.  However, just as one thinks that Amelia's sole talent lies in playing the typical female ingenue, she comes on as Lady Catherine DeBourgh's daughter - here re-imagined as the veiled and impish love child of Cousin Itt.

Nance Williamson as Mrs Bennet (and a handful of butlers) both embraces her artistic predecessors' predilection to play the family matriarch as a hysterical comic relief, and eschews the caricature, largely aided by Hamill's script that sees Mrs Bennet's plight as a drill sergeant charged with getting her recruits through the game of love successfully.

On the night we attended, Laura Baranik, who delighted in Sense and Sensibility, took on the roles of Lydia and Lady Catherine DeBourgh.  Both were well-played, especially Lydia, whom we realize through Hamill's clever exploration, is really the only daughter to soak up Mrs Bennet's coaching to win the marital game.  Even if it's to disastrous effect.

That same night, Jeremy Peter Johnson understudied for the triple-threat of Mr Collins (here an enthusiastic thesaurus of a botanist), Mr Wickham (as dashing and dastardly as one could wish), and Ms Bingley (giving every regal character actor who's inhabited the role a run for her money).

In Which We Reach a Conclusion; Which May Be Read In Advance of the Article

I rarely give a standing ovation for a show anymore.  Call it jadedness.  Call it a desire for art to be truly great.  Call it sheer peevishness - what you will.  But I'll tell you this:

I was up and out of my chair before the lights went out. 

     Hamill doesn't just adapt Austen,
     she dances with her. 

Those very themes that make Pride and Prejudice timeless: the Beauty and the Beast resonances, the exploration of masculinity and femininity that make us cry la plus ça change, the dangers of treating matrimony like a game, the hesitancy of true love - so different from what rom-coms would have us believe - all of these are laid bare in Hamill's brilliant adaptation under Dehnert's direction.

Where Hamill departs from slavish imitation, she illuminates and adapts best.  Where she lets her own voice break through - rambling or hesitant or strident or precise - as she does in both proposals, the text strikes true and we are left breathless at the story once again.

There are only a few more chances to see this production with the original cast.  Kate Hamill has proven herself the Austen we need now.  Get out your purse; this play is worth every penny.  Very highly recommended.

Pride and Prejudice, produced by Primary Stages, plays at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, NYC through January 6, 2018.

Tickets begin at $82, and are available through OvationTix.

The cast of Pride and Prejudice, featuring playwright Kate Hamill as Elizabeth Bennet (center left), and Jason O'Connell as Mr. Darcy (center).  Directed by Amanda Dehnert.

Kate Hamill as Lizzy and Jason O'Connell as Mr Darcy in Primary Stages' 2017 Production of Pride and Prejudice.  Photo by James Leynse.

Mrs. Bennet (Nance Williamson) readies Lizzy (Kate Hamill) at the Netherfield Ball, while Charlotte (Chris Thorn) waits and Jane (Amelia Pedlow) and Mr Bingley (Mark Bedard) dance.  Photo by James Leynse.

The Bennet Family, Jane (Amelia Pedlow), Mary (John Tufts), Mrs Bennet (Nance Williamson), Lizzy (Kate Hamill), Lydia (Kimberly Chatterjee), and Mr Bennet (Chris Thorn, center).  Photo by James Leynse.

NOW AVAILABLE! Listen to Nachtsturm Castle, a Gothic Austen Satire, as read by Suzanne T. Fortin.  Ghosts!  Trap doors!  Dopplegangers!  And more await you in this continuation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

Still Smarting: Women, Shakespeare and Processing Emotion The stage needs more roles for smart women...provided we can recognize how she thinks.