[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Los Angeles Pierce College’s Shakespeare in Love, directed by Shaheen Vaaz, adapted from the original film written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, running through May -12.
Shakespeare in Love is absolutely one of my favorite films and still on regular repeat at my house. Something to turn to when feeling blue, or to watch whilst wrapping presents at Christmas. So I was a little trepidatious to say the least while I drove up the Pierce College “mountain” to the theatre. But I need not have worried for an instant…they did Will proud!
It’s a fairly close interpretation of the film, with a few sweet additions, but the strength of the characters always struck me just as important as the love story or the plot.
And this lovely version, deftly directed by Shaheen Vaaz, does an excellent job of allowing these characters to shine. The actors run wild enough with accents and bravado while still keeping everyone within the realm of believability. The jokes are hilarious, the connections real, and the story flows beautifully.
A quick reminder of the story, unless you are one of the half dozen people who have never seen this film, and if that is so then I don’t wish to know you. Will Shakespeare is still in the early stages of his career and not as well known as many other playwrights of the age. But while he’s on his way and struggling to stay afloat he over extends himself a little, promising to write a play for two theatres concurrently and sadly not able to get either one going. He is stuck and during casting for one of the promised plays, Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter, he becomes inspired by the real daughter of a local merchant he spies whilst crashing a court party. It’s lust and then it turns to love, once he realizes that she is also one of his players disguised as a man.
It’s all very traditional romantic comedy…until someone dies and she is married off to an evil arse and the Queen gets involved. Shakespeare in Love is a gorgeous romp through English history and pomp and brilliantly written of course, how could it not be with Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard penning the tale?
You might imagine it would be tricky to do on stage and since the story is so wrapped around the original cast of some of the best English actors ever, anyone else playing these roles might be deeply disappointing. But this cast was so wonderful and tried so hard to do the accents without coming off silly I got completely caught up in the whole ridiculous Shakespearean plot, with all its cunning nods to some of his most memorable literary moments.
In short, Pierce College’s Shakespeare in Love is absolutely magical and a fantastic homage to the film, while still being its own wonderful play. Like the best of Shakespeare’s actual work, there are crowd-pleasing moments, heartbreak, passion and plenty of bits with a dog. It’s a nerve wracking, tumultuous, inspiring and magical play performed with gusto and nuance and reverence by a truly wonderful cast who should be very proud of the miracle of what they have accomplished. They took a film and made it better…
I highly recommend Shakespeare in Love at Pierce College. How fabulous that we have such a stellar cast of talented actors to bring this story to life once again. Bravo!!
Tickets:
When:
May 3 -12
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm
Where:
Peirce College, 6201 Winnetka Ave, Los Angeles, CA 91367
The Cast
The cast includes Donna Accardo, Grant Asner, Johnny Birke, Melinda Birke, Deniz Boysan, Mason Davis, Farbod Farrokhnezhad, Robin Flores, Sofia Giraldo, Joshua Gould, Amelia Miller, Carl Miller, Fiona Morris, Clyde Sandoval, Echo Smith, Ryan Snyders, Alany Soils-Coleman, Ali Suliman, Andrew Tafur, Julian Thompson and Dale Van Slyke.
The Team
The production features scenic and lighting design by Michael Gend, costume design by Eileen Gizienski and sound design by DJ Medina. Marc Pritchett is the fight choreographer, Daniele Rangel and Madeleine Mckay are the assistant directors and Sasha Santa Cruz is the stage manager.