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Theater Review - 'I Hate Hamlet!'
Monday, January 22, 2018 at 5:40PM Theater Review – ‘I Hate Hamlet!’
Produced by Theatre Three – Port Jefferson
Reviewed by Jeb Ladouceur
“I wouldn’t have missed this unique show for the world”
There are essentially two types of theatergoers in existence … those who adore Shakespeare, and those who despise him: it seems there is no theatrical middle ground to be had. In the farcical comedy (if readers will pardon that redundancy) now being offered thru Feb 3rd at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson … a show unambiguously titled ‘I Hate Hamlet!’ as you see … both types of patrons are miraculously accommodated. On the one hand, half the audience empathizes with, and cheers on, Dylan Andrew Poulos (who plays the conflicted young Hamlet-loathing television star, Andrew Rally) … and on the flip side are those who simply cannot imagine such negative theatrical sacrilege being levelled at one of The Bard’s most noted tragedies.
This laugh-a-minute play was written by Paul Rudnick in 1991 and it opened to predictably mixed reviews in April of that year at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre. The cast consists of three women, and three men, all of whom play off one another with exceedingly clever dialogue, even if the plot itself is somewhat less than ingenious. This is farce, after all, and amusing absurdity is the order of the day.
When TV icon, Rally … he with the knock-down gorgeous girlfriend (who’s determined to avoid pre-marital sex at all cost) … has his TV series cancelled (more bad news), Andrew is offered the opportunity to fulfill every actor’s dream … how would he like to play the part of Shakespeare’s melancholy Dane, Hamlet, in New York’s Central Park? That’s when the play’s title is inexplicably invoked: “Not on your life,” sayeth recalcitrant Rally, “I hate Hamlet!”
At that point, this show’s three women … real estate representative Felicia Dantine (played by Theatre Three veteran Linda May), Andrew’s agent, Lillian Troy (interpreted by the marvelous Marci Bing), and virginal girlfriend, Deirdre McDavey (delightfully delivered by Jessica Contino) … decide to whip up a séance that will summon the ghost of the great John Barrymore (wonderfully played by Steve McCoy). If anyone can change Andrew’s obdurate mind, the trio figures, it would be history’s most celebrated Shakespearian thespian … the handsome artist known throughout the entertainment world as ‘The Great Profile.’
Playwright Paul Rudnick, whose Barrymore ghost smacks of Hamlet’s nocturnal battlement-roaming dead daddy … and whose three conniving women are almost certainly suggested by the Weird Sisters of Macbeth … definitely knows a thing or two about Elizabethan tragedy. Furthermore, as we will soon see, Rudnick has a good handle on the eccentricities traditionally associated with the inimitable Barrymore himself.
The multi-talented Steve Ayle, playing Gary Peter Lefkowitz, Andrew Rally’s deep-pockets friend from La La Land, adds significantly to the non-stop humor of this very funny show. Gary’s connections are prepared to offer Rally a Hollywood deal worth millions … ah, but let’s see how that dovetails with Barrymore’s predilection for Shakespeare … and his persuasiveness in convincing Andrew to give Hamlet a shot.
In sum, Theatre Three’s dependable cast and crew has given us another side-splitter … and notably, director Mary Powers proves that legendary Jeffrey Sanzel isn’t the only major domo capable of taking the helm with authority at Port Jeff’s aptly nicknamed ‘Broadway on Main Street.’ Indeed, nobody could have more successfully constructed a reminiscence scene in Act II, wherein aging talent agent Lillian Troy very nearly resurrects a decades-old romance with Barrymore’s ghost. It’s a remarkably poignant, and at once rib-tickling piece of theatre.
I wouldn’t have missed this unique show for the world … though I might have preferred it ‘miked.’
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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s newly completed thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced at the Smithtown Library in May. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com
Reader Comments (3)
“Miked” to be sure; how sad, though, that we miss it.
We have all these “conveniences” now.
I just hope audiences are not losing their ability to do without them?
- EVM - Tampa
If modern actors could do without microphones ... that is, learn to project their natural voices sufficiently to be heard throughout the theater ... today's audiences wouldn't have to worry about needing the artificial devices. That said, it seems to me 21st Century theatrical sound enhancement has developed quite well. Shakespeare would probably us it if he were alive today.
- Jeb Ladouceur