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Weekend Stage: Shakespeare gets the brunt of it in witty 'Cheapside'
Friday, March 10, 2000 By John Hayes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A few historical facts, a bit of conjecture and a substantial amount of wit. That's all David Allen needed to come up with a brilliant script about supposed jealousies, back-stabbing and story origination in the plague-ridden London "Cheapside" district of Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene and William Shakespeare.
Unseam'd Shakespeare Company brings the script to life and pulls its audience into the dirty Elizabethan world of haves and have-nots, where connections mean political power and matter more than talent and determination.
The story centers on struggling Greene, a professional writer who cranked out plays, pamphlets and stories in the flowering 1590s. Despite his hard work, his colleagues are living in luxury -- Marlowe because he feeds political gossip to friends in high places, and Shakespeare whose royal "documentaries" are considered appropriate fodder for the masses by the reigning class.
Co-directors Kevin Ewert and Laura Smiley clearly delineate the class differences with more than costumes and dialects. The whole show radiates class distinctions, showing the invulnerability of the untouchable higher-ups and the dangerous lifestyles endured by all the rest.
Facing financial ruin, Greene agrees to do some libelous pamphleteering for Marlowe's political cronies and feels the full brunt of the dark and vicious underbelly of Elizabethan England.
Despite roles in "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me" and "Of Mice and Men," Kevin Lageman is building a substantial reputation as a master of the classics with memorable parts in Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre's "Racing Demon," "The Rivals" and "Juno and the Paycock." He's overpowering in "Cheapside," playing Greene as a bitter, hard-drinking guy who doesn't understand that hard work and talent aren't enough to make it. His sarcastic tirades against that hack "Shake-scene" are riotous, but he's at his best in intimate quarrels with his pregnant lover, played by Lissa Brennan.
With her convincing emotions and matter-of-fact delivery, Brennan becomes the link between a distant, long-ago culture and our own.
Brian E. Czarniecki gives the foppish Marlowe an adventuresome streak that makes his flirtations with insurgent political interests, simply for the excitement of it all, seem even the more dangerous. Czarniecki's well-played Shakespeare walks between the raindrops on Cheapside, stealing story ideas, chalking up attendance figures and infuriating Greene with his undeserved luck.
Among the bottom feeders of the social caste system is Cutting Ball, the thieving, drinking half-brother of Greene's paramour. Doug Pona is fabulous in the difficult role that calls for brash humor, sensitive confessions and a courageous death scene.
Performance artist Adrienne Wehr, organizer of City Theatre's Dark Night series, is stunning in four very different roles as Cheapside women.
Cramming a dirty London shopping and residential district into the tiny Hamburg isn't easy, but Unseam'd shoehorns it in by going minimal. A raised platform, scaffolding, draping and a few crates and furniture pieces are set against a backdrop that implies a city scene. The suggestion of atmosphere is just enough to focus the attention on the actors, who in turn focus on the script. The result is a fabulous show that tells a great story without jamming the whole Elizabethan era down your throat.
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Where: Lester Hamburg Studio, adjacent to City Theatre, South Side.