In the legal profession there is a familiar saying - “He who has himself for a lawyer has a fool for a client.” There should be a similar phrase in theater. “He/she who directs the play he/she has written, is on a fool’s errand.”
There are a lot of exceptions, but the premise certainly applies to Eric Hissom. He wrote and is directing “Rude Mechanics” at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill. It’s a fatal error. Meant as a loving ode to theater that shows creating theater in the 17thth century is no different than in the 21sst “Rude Mechanics” is, to paraphrase Shakespeare, “…filled with sound and frenzy, signifying nothing.”
It’s timely in that Capital Repertory Theatre just opened a production of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” the same week that “Rude Mechanics” opened. “Midsummer” is the play being rehearsed in “Rude Mechanics.” It does make valid playwright Hissom’s premise that theater is eternal.
However, Cap Rep refuses to mock the mechanicals. In Albany, their ineptitude is coupled with the affection they have for theater. The result is charming comedy. In Catskill, they are shown to be neither passionate nor talented. After a while, seeing a great play acted badly is not funny.
There are other problems. “Rude Mechanics” is such a bloated work it often seems random. Essentially, it is about the seemingly ridiculous exercise of creating theater. But there are side journeys about doing it in time of plague and terrorism. It also adds some female empowerment issues and a few “to thine own self be true” moments. They are raised only to evaporate and disappear without adding anything to the work. Without a clear focus, the play becomes boring.
Director Hissom doesn’t help playwright Hissom. He urges characters to overreact in an effort to make every minor thing important. The result is eventually nothing seems important.
Actually, those rhythms make the play placid, despite the hard, energetic work of the performers. One of his favorite go-to’s is having actors throw pages of manuscripts in the air.
The play centers about a theater troupe rehearsing a last minute replacement actor for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It’s the closing performance of King James’ winter theater season and, as such, is an important event. Adding to the importance is that the King and Queen of Spain will be in attendance.
The year is 1612. The understudy, Julian Crosse rehearses for Flute, one of the rude mechanicals and Thisbe, the Juliet-like figure in the play within a play offered in “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Crosse is played by Jack Rento as a hyper-insecure actor who responds with frantic energy to every minor setback or unexpected revelation.
It’s the same with Em Whitworth as the female playwright Rosemary Bassanio. She enters disguised as a man hoping to get the play she wrote produced. She has thus far been unsuccessful because of her gender.
The scenes with Whitworth and her ex-lover, Rento are scream fests, but amazingly the two actors survive the overwrought direction as eventually we understand their sexual attraction to each other.
Henry Worthy, a 17th century carouser, is also in lust with her. Andrew Goehring plays the leading man in the company as vain and smugly superior. He is an intimate friend of Shakespeare, which leads to an unexpected twist.
If you add three more characters – a finicky Master of the Revels, Lord Strayte, a creepy and drunk version of William Shakespeare as well as an ephemeral spirit of Queen Elizabeth I- all played by Steven Patterson, you can easily see the potential for great comedy.
To be fair, the situation does become more complicated - but never complex. In the play, trivial rules. It’s too bad. The performances are all earnest and offered with skill. Indeed, towards the end of the 90-minute work the farcical elements in the play begin to gel, resulting in some too-little-too-late laughter.
Hissom has excellent credits as an actor and playwright. His love of theater can be seen throughout the play. It is never clearer than when Queen Elizabeth I appears to talk to Cross about the magic of theater. Even though the moment seems as if it is from a different play and attached to “Rude Mechanics,” it is a welcome and calming moment filled with insight.
Were the other 80-minutes this honest and insightful, “Rude Mechanics” would be a much better play. But, as George S. Kaufman is reported to have said, “Good plays aren’t written, they are rewritten.”
“Rude Mechanics” at Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill. Performances through Sunday. For schedule and ticket information call 518-943-3818 or go to Bridgestreettheatre.org
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
