By Eva Trieger in La Mesa, California
What happens when true talent is replaced by mere wannabes? Can the “age of the poet” give way to the “age of the hack”? When our touchstones are supplanted by inferiors do we have to release our hold on high standards? According to writer Lauren Gunderson and Lamplighters’ The Book of Will, we do not!
Thanks to John Heminges (Steven Jensen) Henry Condell (Gabe Samrock), and Richard Burbage (Andy Hall), the Bard’s plays have become popular among the groundlings and society. Yet popularity does not mean enough money to create a printed, bound collection of these plays, and that is the work of the King’s Men. These actors have brought to life Shakespeare’s dramas, tragedies and romantic comedies over the years. Now they wish to preserve the Bard’s messages and his works.
The play, like so many of Shakespeare’s tragedies, highlights significant losses, and untimely deaths. Characters do succumb to fevers and illnesses that we probably have cures for today. However, the manner in which the characters die is credible and sensitive. The full spectrum of human emotions is evident in Lamplighters’ production. There is flirtation between daughter Alice Heminges (Abbie Black) and Isaac Jaggard (Josh Click). Camaraderie and wisdom shared between the wives Becky Heminges (Shelley Benoit) and Elizabeth Condell (Laura Ganz-Holtan).
The extreme Londoner’s butchering of the English language by the Town Crier (Chris Braden) and overemoting while simpering by Boy Hamlet (Joseph Vitti). Greed and conniving are evinced by printer and publisher William Jaggard (Jeff Jones), while integrity and pride define scribe Ralph Crane (Stephen Toth). And of course there is plenty of humor punctuated by Shakespeare’s well-known colorful quips and insults.
Director Samuel Young has done an outstanding job with this group of very talented actors. The story flows smoothly, following a timeline from Shakespeare’s passing to the arduous task of locating and compiling a bound book of all of his plays. The process clearly demonstrated a labor of love and perhaps even necessity for the players who spent their lives bringing his words to the stage and to the groundlings.
Young’s notes in the program remind viewers that Shakespeare’s popularity was not a given. His rise to “household name” status was the result of friendship, sacrifice and hard work on the part of those who loved and valued his writing. This play reveals what playwriting and acting are all about. The hours of concerted effort and refining every phrase, action, expression go unseen by the average patron.
This show, like so many other massive successes at Lamplighters, reveals that the effort pays off. The end result is not only entertaining, but educational and fulfilling. The show did feel a tad too long for this theatre-goer, but the clever scenery (Dennis Floyd) and blocking (Eva Kvaas) made up for it.
The Book of Will runs through March 22nd. Tickets may be purchased online or by phone at 619.303.5092.
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Ramona, California-based freelance writer Eva Trieger specializes in coverage of the arts.