Review: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE at Omaha Community Playhouse: 'Where's the Dog?'

In 1998 Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard penned an Academy Award winning screenplay on a fictionalized account of William Shakespeare and his muse, Viola de Lesseps. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, is a touching love story set in the Elizabethan world of theater where women were not allowed on stage. Lee Hall, working with Disney Theatrical Productions, adapted the hit screenplay for stage, a daunting task which met with mixed reviews.

Last night, the Omaha Community Playhouse hosted a social hour for opening night ticket holders with mingling Renaissance actors in costume, setting the mood for the show.

The story centers on young William Shakespeare and his search for a muse to get him over his writer's block. He finds this in the beautiful Viola de Lesseps, daughter of a wealthy merchant. There are two competing theaters searching to find a play that will fill the seats and line the pockets. Because women are not allowed on stage, theater-loving Viola poses as a man and auditions for the play. She falls for Will and their love inspires him to write his tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Director Jeff Horger and Assistant Director Suzanne Withem took SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE in the direction of farce. Exaggerated gestures and onstage shenanigans made this a crowd appealing event. I was impressed with Alissa Hanish as Viola de Lesseps and Jacob Roman as Will Shakespeare. Hanish's touch of refinement in the midst of a riotous production was refreshing. Jacob Roman was also restrained and endearing as the tormented poet playwright. Janet Macklin (Queen Elizabeth) did a great job as the perceptive queen who loves comedy and dogs.

It is interesting that in this production male actors played women on stage just as they did "back then." But OCP also cast women playing men, not as actors, but as characters adding another dimension. Both Sydney Readman (Lord Wessex) and Danielle Smith (Edmund Tilney) portray men who are not actors. Their performance choices are more consistent with the absurd, using exaggeration and hyperbole, as do most of the ensemble.

The crowd seemed to love it. The crowd especially loved Spot, played by Horger's dog Apollo. Apollo stole the spotlight without trying. I found myself watching his antics off to the side of the stage the entire time that he was on. Even his "bio" in the program was entertaining. Apollo admits that he "did not pay much attention during rehearsals, he has almost no idea what this play is about, and he did not learn any of his lines."

The set, an impressive structure apparently modeled after the film, had a slightly Western flair about it, possibly because of the reddish color of the wood. The rotating circular platform in the floor allowed creative scene changes.

Lindsay Pape deserves credit for her ornately detailed Victorian dresses. The Queen's bright red hair brought to mind the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. The pronounced codpieces were a distraction. As I overheard in the lobby at intermission, "I can't take my eyes off of them."

Curtain call was a delight thanks to choreographer Courtney Stein.

If you love Shakepeare, if you love the theater, if you love farce, you will love SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE playing through May 6. Calling on a quote from the show, "Where's the comedy, Will? Where's the dog?" He's at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

Photo Credit: Alissa Hanish and Jacob Roman by Robertson Photography

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