Shakespeare and His Mistress: Emilia and Wil by Paul
Kauffmann. Directed by Cate Clelland. Australian Players ACT. Big Band Room,
ANU School of Music. 8pm. Sept 21 – 22 and 29.
Given that so little is actually known about Shakespeare,
his life or any relationship he may or may not have had with poet Emilia
Bassano-Lanier, creating a play about this gives a playwright a bit of a blank
slate.
What’s on show here is not a play. It’s more of a concert. It
opens with a prologue by the playwright who seems to be dressed as Sir Henry
Irving. There’s a succession of short scenes between which a small ensemble
plays music by David Pereira that pays some elegant tribute to the music of the
time.
A certain amount of unnecessary set changing takes place. Occasionally there
are some period dances courtesy of John and Aylwen Gardiner-Garden. Sometimes
William and Emilia burst into song.
What script there is, is heavily loaded with quotation and
gives the actors very little more to work with.
A flat floor space like the Big Band Room makes for
considerable sight line difficulties. And I’m not sure how well the spoken word
would have been heard at the back. I occasionally had trouble in the second
front row.
Some of the costumes are fine but some choices struggle to
arrive at the right style and century. Shakespeare’s bed arrives at one stage
suggesting he might have shopped at IKEA or its ilk for the best one.
(Presumably the second best one is still with Anne Hathaway in Stratford)
There are plenty of plays and films that successfully buy
right into the imagining of Shakespeare’s life and times and relationships.
(…George Bernard Shaw’s one-acter The Dark Lady of the
Sonnets…
…the Dr Who episode The Shakespeare Code [albeit with alien
witches and space travel, but the banter between Shakespeare , the Doctor and
companion Martha is excellent]
…the film Shakespeare in Love [co-written by Tom Stoppard of
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead fame]…)
This does not
look to be one of them.
Alanna Maclean
