Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Shakespeare the Dead is an appropriate title for Pipeline Theatre Company’s production that ran this past week at the Johnson Theater at Theater for the New City. A plot that did not go anywhere sadly reminded us that the beloved Bard is dead and not many young playwrights are coming around to even attempt to take his place.

Playwright Alex Mills did try to do something different with his play of combining a horror film style into theater, but the play was very difficult to get engaged in. It was a very slow script that did not have a focus.

Shakespeare the Dead attempts to make fun of the superstitions behind Shakespeare’s Macbeth, particularly the superstition that one cannot say “Macbeth” inside a theater and must instead say “The Scottish Play.” The show is a play within a play – or actually a film within a play. Everyone is gathering together to create a new film of Macbeth and the actors and creative team are forced by the producer to say “Macbeth” as he claims that those superstitions are just myths. As a result, horrific things happen to the characters. Lights go out, cast members disappear, others get possessed, random voices appear.

Was this play supposed to be a parody of horror films“ Or was it making fun of the creative process that always involves divas and strong personalities meshing? It was unclear. A clear parody of horror films would have been much more interesting to watch than what was up on stage, which was a lot of overacting with no true plot. There was no climax as there was barely any conflict. The timing was awkward and one wouldn’t know when to laugh if it wasn’t for the canned laughter from opening night family and friends.

As far as the cast goes, it is almost unfair to criticize them for a lot of untruthful work because they were doing their best with a confusing script. The style of the script is so unresolved, so it makes the actor’s job difficult to figure out how to approach the text. The highlight of the cast is Willy Appelman as The Intern. He has good instincts and was able to take those to create funny little moments throughout the show and to make the role his own. The rest of the cast fed into the ridiculousness of the production and did not seem to have any idea how to take advantage of the very interesting space they were performing in. To their defense, though, Ikea would have been proud of the stage design because it was very bland and unspecific.

The only true relief of the production was some very vibrant and passionate drumming from percussionist David Hoffmann. The drumming did not really have anything to do with the show, but it was nice to at least see someone on the stage fully invested in the art they were doing.