By Matt Adams
As part of their 17th season, the newly renamed SimonFest Theatre Company, formerly The Neil Simon Festival, presents I Hate Hamlet. Artistic director Peter Sham admits that their production is intended as a comedic alternative to the traditional and serious Hamlet, playing elsewhere in Cedar City. “There’s a lot more death in that other show,” he jokingly noted to the audience before the curtain rose on the play’s opening night.
In I Hate Hamlet, TV actor Andrew Rally (Trevor Messenger) moves to New York after his popular medical drama is cancelled. Upon entering his new apartment, he finds that it is the former apartment of John Barrymore, a real-life actor who famously interpreted the role of Hamlet in the 1920s. To Andrew’s disdain, this meant Barrymore had decades earlier renovated the apartment in a medieval style. Although Andrew is initially off put by the strange decor, his real estate broker and his Shakespeare-fanatic girlfriend persuade him to rent the apartment. After his agent arrives and announces that Shakespeare in the Park has offered Andrew the role of Hamlet, everyone but Andrew is convinced that he is fated to accept the role and live in that apartment. Because Andrew is just a TV actor, he doesn’t feel up to the challenge of an iconic Shakespearean role, and he declares, “But I hate Hamlet” [dramatic lightning and thunder]. His girlfriend and the broker cajole him into participating in a séance to summon the ghost of Barrymore to guide him. After the others have left, John Barrymore’s ghost (played by Taylor Seth Hall) does indeed appear to Andrew in full Shakespearean regalia, and declares that it is his mission not only to convince Andrew to accept the role, but also to train him and prepare him for it.
This show features a small cast. The standouts are Messenger as Andrew and Hall as Barrymore. The strongest moments of the show are when these two actors share the stage. Their scenes are well paced, and their comedic timing brings out the humor of the script. Messenger is a convincing Andrew, reluctant and self-doubting for the first act, but confident and suave for parts of the second. Hall is a larger-than-life Barrymore, commanding the stage and the audience’s attention. This is a role meant to be overacted, and Hall successfully does just that.
Joining Messenger and Hall are four supporting actors. Sceri Sioux Ivers plays Andrew’s girlfriend, Deirdre. She is appropriately sweet and has some very funny moments in the show. As the real estate broker Felicia, Maycee Ham is comically shallow and airheaded. Samuel Gaylord is Gary, the fast-talking TV writer/producer. The character is unbelievably obnoxious, but Gaylord accomplishes his mile-a-minute lines while exhaustingly never standing still—quite a feat. Andrew’s agent Lillian is played by Lynn Hart, who brings a German accent and convincing maturity to the role.
Director Richard Dean Bugg heads a successful production team. The set designed by Michael Harvey effectively suggests the Gothic apartment, even though it involves only a few set pieces. Ashley Branin’s costume design mixes some early 90s fashion with classic Shakespeare garb. Zane Brady choreographs an impressive swordplay sequence between Andrew and Barrymore. I’d like to give a special mention to the lighting designer Rebekah Bugg and the sound designer Tony Solano. At multiple times in the show, lightning and thunder strike. At first I was bothered by the fact that the flashing light effect noticeably preceded the sound effect. After realizing that in real life lightning does indeed flash before the sound of the thunder arrives, I appreciated this attention to a small detail.
I Hate Hamlet is an entertaining, funny show with an interesting premise. (Fun fact: The playwright Paul Rudnick was inspired to write this play after moving into a New York apartment that had actually been lived in and renovated by John Barrymore.) This play offers something for everyone. If you’re a Shakespeare fan, then you will catch nods and references to the Bard’s works; if you’re not, then you will empathize with Andrew as he lampoons and bemoans Shakespeare’s dense text. Whether you’re an actor or not, you’ll enjoy Andrew’s and Barrymore’s comically different perspectives on the craft of acting, and you’ll relate to their worries over the legacies that they are leaving.
SimonFest Theatre Company presents I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick
Heritage Theater, 105 N 100 E, Cedar City, UT 84720
July 12, 17, 19, 20, 26, 2019 7:00 PM, 2:00 PM matinee July 19, 25
Tickets: $15-25 (https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?actions=10&p=1)
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