The South Simcoe Theatre’s (SST) current production in Cookstown is a lively, funny and well-done comedy.
I Hate Hamlet, written by Paul Rudnick, runs the following two Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, with a Sunday matinee.
Richard Varty — who also writes a bi-weekly Scene Setter column for BarrieToday — directs and is in the lead role as Andrew Rally.
Andrew struggles with the daunting task of taking on the lead role in Hamlet, as he moves into an apartment once belonging to famous actor John Barrymore. Barrymore’s performances as Hamlet in London and New York in the 1920s are legendary.
Andrew’s girlfriend, Deirdre, played by Guelph’s Elizabeth Rodenburg, enthusiastically supports Andrew in acting as Hamlet. His agent, Lillian (Cathy McCauley), and his real estate broker, Felicia (Jennifer Bedard), try to encourage him as well.
They join together in a seance and successfully bring Barrymore (Stuart Todd) to the apartment. He is not visible to all of the characters. The eventual sword duel with Barrymore reflects the duality Andrew has regarding the role of Hamlet.
The plot thickens when Gary (Jan Nybida), a friend of Andrew’s, shows up, tempting him to go to Los Angeles and a new TV deal worth millions.
Each of the actors brings a lively performance to the stage. There are lots of funny moments both in the script itself and through the physicality of the roles. Sword fighting between Barrymore and Andrew shows sharpness of movement. SST hosted a sword-fighting workshop on stage to help the actors ready for the roles.
The play also reflects some of the insecurities and difficult decisions actors make in their careers and the effort to deal with both public and personal reactions to roles they perform.
There are many hands that go into bringing a play to stage, including script selectors, a producer, a stage manager, stage designers and stage builders, sound, lighting and costume design and, in this case, a fight choreographer. To help with the challenge of directing and acting, Sabrina Marks provided additional directing.
SST always welcomes new people to roles on and off the stage.
Mel Hinch, producer, said this year has been interesting: “We’ve had a lot of new people come on. For example, we had a whole family come and paint the set.”
The family had just moved to Cookstown, wanted to check out what the theatre did, and offered their help.
What came before painting was building the set following a design created by Rachel Lampreia, a newcomer to SST. She used her study of interior design and the script set suggestions to design a space that allows for actor movement while being believable to the story. It’s almost a character in itself. It has a strong presence but does not upstage the actors.
Now that the show is running, the volunteers at the door, the ushers and ticket takers move into their roles. What completes the performance and really brings it to life is the audience.
I Hate Hamlet runs until March 19 at the South Simcoe Theatre, housed at the Old Town Hall, 1 Hamilton St., Cookstown.
For more information about the theatre, upcoming plays, workshops and to order tickets, visit thesouthsimcoetheatre.com.
Single tickets are available online or by calling the box office at 705-458-4432 or emailing [email protected].
Rosaleen Egan is a freelance journalist, a storyteller and a playwright. She blogs on her website, rosiewrites.com.
