REVIEW: The Absurd ‘Polishing Shakespeare’ is a Comedic Delight
Photos by John Sowle
“Watching the cruelty of capitalism trample these artists shouldn’t be this much fun, but this is one audacious playwright.”
Sometimes the greatest drama can be found in your own backyard. With so much going on in the world, we can frequently see the moral issues plaguing us most clearly in our own checkbook and financial choices.
How does a wildly ambitious, yet intimate theatre company produce new and innovative plays using classic themes and characters while luring audiences away from their Netflix? Bridge Street Theatre does the work all while balancing the books with small casts and in-house design.
BST opens another season with a gem: Polishing Shakespeare. The show is an intellectual vaudeville with an immediately identifiable yet absurd premise. The execution tickles, provokes, and infuriates. When you’re not barking with laughter you could be shaking in your seat with fury or shaking your head in dismay.
Polishing Shakespeare by Brian Dykstra (who was thrillingly in attendance Friday night) is one of BST’s beloved “Shakespeare adjacent” productions which presents a dot com billionaire (indispensable Steven Patterson, dressed more like Texas oil money) who commissions a regional theatre run by Ms. Branch (Yvonne Perry, sublime in her BST debut). She invites the young playwright Janet (Angelique Archer, making a vivid, strong impression) to rewrite all of Shakespeare’s 36 plays, “so that there are clearer words put together more correctly, sounding a little less like poetry.”
None of this, as outlandish as it sounds, is unfamiliar to anyone who loves theatre. How do you pursue your passion, stay true to your conscience, and pay the bills? Sure, 40 of the 41 Broadway houses are booked and Denzel’s Othello (Shakespeare!!) has a $950 ticket, but how does the working actor survive?
The topic is evergreen; just last week there was an episode on Freakonomics that marveled, “How Is Live Theatre Still Alive?”
Dykstra’s play is bold, brash, and funny as hell. It is also written in iambic pentameter. The surprise of the rhymes startle and astonish as you watch these poor souls twist themselves in knots, grappling to reconcile their purpose in life and the value of their labor. Watching the cruelty of capitalism trample these artists shouldn’t be this much fun, but this is one audacious playwright. It’s no surprise to learn he will be playing Grant in an off-Broadway production at 59E59 coming up this year.
Yvonne Perry’s fiery confrontation with Angelique Archer once she has turned in her adaptation of Henry VIII (of all plays!) at the top of Act II had me in delicious hysterics. I couldn’t get enough of her outraged disbelief. Archer is like a bear cub provoked, once she takes to the project, she is ready to clear the picnic table and make some mischief. Patterson is having a great time playing the marionette master, making his puppets dance by pulling his purse strings. Company Artistic Director stages all with precisely calibrated movements and sharp lighting choices by Eric Leary that lays the comedy out clearly while highlighting the ethical dilemma. The beautiful, minimal set by Carmen Borgia recreates a faux industrial office which holds some lovely surprises.
Polishing Shakespeare is a fun celebration of the miracle of theatre and Bridge Street in particular.
Polishing Shakespeare runs through 4/27 at Bridge Street Theatre 44 W Bridge Street, Catskill, NY. Tickets: www.bridgest.org
