Hamlet remains undecided

Two fictional characters and a renowned theologian walk into a bar. Two acts later, despite much witticism, nothing is decided, though some thought is provoked, by the Seattle Shakespeare Company production of Wittenberg by David Davalos, directed by Rita Giomi.

Luther (Michael Patten), Hamlet (Connor Toms), and Faustus
(Chad Kelderman) in Seattle Shakespeare Company's production
of Wittenberg by David Davalos. Photo by John Ulman.

The story of the show is that Martin Luther, instigator of the protestant reformation, and Dr. John Faustus, fictional seller of his soul to the devil, are on the faculty of the University of Wittenberg, and Hamlet is a senior there though, not surprisingly, he still hasn't settled on a major. Luther (Michael Patten) and Faustus (Chad Kelderman) spar over the age-old debate of faith versus reason, their discussion spurred in part by recent writing by Polish scholar Nick Copernicus that the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center of it all. Hamlet (Connor Toms), true to form, tries to see both sides and is indeed helped by both. As it turns out, Luther's 95 theses were written in response to something of a bar bet. Faustus challenged Luther to come up with 100 things wrong with the church.

It seemed like Hamlet was about to get all of the answers when word came from Denmark that his father was dead, and he had to skedaddle for Elsinore.

It's a pretty damn smart play, though by coincidence a friend who is a Lutheran parson was at the same performance we attended and had a few quibbles with Davalos' version of Luther's theology. That aside, Davalos has clearly seen the inside of a church and a theater, and weaves scores of Hamlet references into the text. There must have been eight or 10 takes on the to-be-or-not-to-be soliloquy alone.

A few quibbles with the performances. This is a heavily wordy play, and there were a few obvious stumbles along the way. And an otherwise wonderful scene, in which Hamlet plays tennis with invisible off-stage foe Laertes, fell a bit short when Toms' swings got out of sync with the sound effect of racket smacking invisible ball. My Sweetie, the official scorer, missed most of that scene, as spectators Faustus and his floozy Helen (Michelle Chiachiere, who was wonderful as all the women in the show, from barmaid to Holy Mother) were essentially seated in her lap on the front-row aisle for the match. She did, however, get a close look at the costumes!

All in all, though, this is a marvelous play and a great partner to the other production Seattle Shakes is running at present, a straight-up Hamlet that is spectacular.

Go see. Both run through Dec. 5. There's great stuff happening at Seattle Shakes.

Cider House Rules a triumph at Book-It

A compelling tale, a stunning cast, and marvelous direction add up to some fantastic theater at Book-It, which is returning to its beginnings with a production of John Irving's The Cider House Rules, directed by Jane Jones. The Book-It script was adapted by Peter Parnell from Irving's novel, and this direction is based on the original by Tom Hulce and Jones from 1996. The current production covers part one, and part two is coming from Book-It in September.

When we call the cast "stunning" we mean it. There's not a weak performance from Bayley to Wright. Three performances stand out in particular:

• Peter Crook as Dr. Wilbur Larch. We've been wild about Crook since we first saw him eons ago in Lonely Planet, the first production ever staged at ArtsWest. He's a commanding presence as Dr. Larch, even as his confidence in the high calling of his work is challenged, as his ether addiction escalates, and his protege bolts for greener orchards.
• Connor Toms as Homer Wells. Toms is rapidly becoming a favorite, with super performances recently in Two Gents at Seattle Shakes and at January's 14/48 Festival. Toms displays great range as he plays Homer literally from birth--he springs fully grown from under the clinic table on which his mother is in labor--to age 20-ish when, questioning his role at St. Clouds, he bolts, for a couple of days, with Wally and Candy.
• Terri Weagant as Melony. Weagant is an F5 tornado as the incredibly angry young woman with a thing for Homer. She absolutely owns the stage whenever she's on it, or even above it looking out her window at the orphanage. Weagant received a Wisey nomination for best actress for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe last August at Balagan Theatre.

Props to director Jones for keeping the action on stage moving at a usually frantic pace, with astonishing choreography that has folks moving from office to clinic to sleeping quarters to train station to abandoned logging barracks to the coast all on a spartan set. The production also includes countless little moments that display marvelous thought and attention to detail, and add some levity to what becomes a pretty heavy discussion on birth, abortion, adoption, and morality and happiness.

We're coming up on the midway point in 2010. My Sweetie, the official scorer, and I have seen nearly 50 plays (counting the 28 one-acts of 14/48 individually) and The Cider House Rules ranks among the best of them. Get out to see it at Book-It through July 11, and catch part two in September.

14/48 Festival: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The topic for the final day of this winter's 14/48 Theater Festival was a little frightening. Drawn out of the giant ice cream cone Friday night was the theme "somewhere over the rainbow." Somehow, though, the seven playwrights made it through the entire day without a trace of munchkins or winged monkeys. What we did get, though, was a solid evening of interesting and entertaining plays.

Two of the seven plays did have explicit Oz plots, including what for Weisenheimer was the best of the evening, Pretty Little Bluebirds by David Schmader, directed by Julie Beckman. Alyson Scadron Branner was a hoot as the dictatorial director, an Oz-obsessed academic who has directed a zillion productions, including the first all-white production of The Wiz, and then an all-black production of her all-white Wiz. In the rehearsal pic at right Scadron Branner (left) directs Hana Lass (who kicks ass), the play's Dorothy. (The 14/48 blog has a lot of other great photos by Auston James; go check 'em out!) Chris Ensweiler is also a riot at Scadron Branner's spouse, cast as the scarecrow. The punch line: all this heavy academic work mining the deep psychological meaning of Oz is being done for a production at a grade school!

Also hilarious was Scotto Moore's Sending a Message, directed by Liam Cole. In the play Connor Toms builds a time machine so he can go back and kill Judy Garland before she turns "Over the Rainbow" into a smash hit. He hates that song! In a Terminator-meets-Oz twist, his wife, Mik Kuhlman, turns out to be a Garland sent from the past to stop his evil plan. Funny stuff!

There was plenty of other psychosis to go around. In The Prisoner of Id by David Tucker and directed by Darian Lindle, a couple work their way through dinner on a blind date while their alter egos provide commentary and advice from upstage. Ray Tagavilla is brilliant, and his punch line is priceless. Split personalities, dreams, or voices in the head also are featured in three of the other shows. Clearly, wicked witches and winged monkeys wigged out lots of people, enabling them to become future playwrights. Somehow, the theme also inspired two of the writers to war/terrorism plots. La'Chris Jordan, who wrote Friday's funny The Ticket, got all serious with Beyond the Rain, about the inner thoughts of a woman imprisoned at Gitmo, talking with her shrink and her other self.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the band. We especially like Alyssa Keene as front-person and usually lead vocalist. Throughout the festival they also provided great scoring and imaginative sound effects. All theaters should have a kick-ass house band.

Alas, 14/48 is done until summer. We'll be counting the days.