Review of A Touch of Shakespeare: Best of the Bard’s Monologues Directed by James Jennings at American Theater of Actors through Sunday, October 6 by Bill Eisenring
A Touch of Shakespeare is a show brilliantly curated and directed by prolific director James Jennings. It is a must see for anyone who loves Shakespeare and has significant knowledge of his works. It is also an important show for anyone who is beginning to study Shakespeare or wants to learn how to be a playwright or actor.
Amber Brooks starts us off with a monologue as Regan (Lear) and we are hooked with anticipation of a wonderful evening. Although the acting is not all even, each member of the cast does a wonderful job with each of 4 characters they portray from some of the Bard’s most popular plays. Sam Cruz’s Hamlet shows an outstanding understanding of the character which few actors have mastered.
If the show has a problem, it is very much for a niche audience. If you are not familiar with Shakespeare’s plays, you will probably get lost very early on and not recover since this is a series of monologues with no pretense of a plot. It is difficult to imagine how a long run would ever succeed. Success probably lies in being used as a fund raiser for NYC based Shakespearean companies (Town Hall for all the Shakespearean companies in the City?) or training young actors, but even that seems to require Jennings’ direction and actors as talented as these. With a substantial grant, an evening at Theater 42 with young High School students being introduced to theater would be a wonderful place for this production to be seen and used to develop a next generation of talented thespians.
ARTIUM: OMNI 