Actor and theater director Jane Farnol has another delicious comedy running at The Brookfield Theatre for the Arts, full of “very magical mirth.” Set in the 1930s, the gold days of the old Warner Brothers studio, “Shakespeare in Hollywood” is a “surfeit of the sweetest things.”
The play is a mashup of old Hollywood with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and any other of the Bard’s plays that came to the mind of playwright Ken Ludwig. The poster for the show says it all: the traditional picture of William Shakespeare but he’s wearing aviator sunglasses in which are reflected the palm trees of sunny SoCal.
“The course of true love never did run smooth” at the Warner studio back lot when the latest lady love of Jack Warner demands a leading role in his next film, a Shakespeare play that director Max Reinhardt has convinced Warner to produce instead of the studio’s usual screwball comedies. Cue the sudden drop-in (literally) of two characters from Shakespeare, and “so quick bright things come to confusion.” The play is full of jest, otherwise known as humor, dance, and smooth acting.
As the filmmaking proceeds, so do the antics that ensue as well-known Shakespearian tropes find their way into the 20th century. A night-time party to celebrate the film is, indeed, “ill met by moonlight,” proving “what fools these mortals be.”
For an afternoon or evening of clever humor and Hollywood history, all brought to stage by great directing, get thee to brookfieldtheatre.org. The show runs through April 27.
