as Higgy, Jeanine Serralles as Bea and Brad Heberlee as the priest.
All photos by by Joan Marcus.
Zounds and Egad!
The cheek of it all.
There certainly
will be much ado in some hidebound quarters over the current goings-on at Yale
Repertory’s University Theatre. Some might even be moved to say, “We are not amused.”
However, they would be missing the point of “These Paper Bullets!” as well as denying
the reality of how Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed, for the Bard
knew well that he had to please the groundlings, of whom he wrote in “Hamlet”: “for
the most part…[they are] capable of nothing but / inexplicable dumbshows and
noise.” Well, the groundlings would be well pleased with what is billed as “A
Modish Ripoff of William Shakespeare’s Much
Ado About Nothing,” for there’s enough noise and dumbshows to please the
most base born…plus quite a lot to tickle the fancy of the carriage trade.
As adapted by
Rolin Jones, “Bullets!” follows the basic plot line of Shakespeare’s play,
thought to be written in 1599. The Bard gave us two couples, Benedick and Beatrice (the main couple), and
Claudio and Hero (the secondary couple), each thwarted in finding true love –
the former for prickly personality reasons, the latter due to the jealousy of
Don John -- with all of the action taking place in Messina. Flash-forward some
three-and-a-half centuries to London
The Quartos: Bryan Fenkart as Claude, Lucas
Papaelias
as Balth, James Barry as Pedro (on drums), and David
Wilson Barnes as
Ben
Britain’s younger
generation is delighted, especially with the raised skirts and lowered morals
that the 60s have ushered in; the old guard, in the form of a cadre of
inspectors from Scotland Yard, suspect that the very fabric of the Empire, or
what tattered parts remain, is about to be torn apart.
Ah, but beneath the
gleeful, glittery, circus-like atmosphere of the fab four’s lives there lurk
problems, for Ben (David Wilson Barnes), though not bereft of birds, is beset
and bedeviled by Bea (Jeanine Serrales), a top designer of mod clothing who has
a waspish tongue and disdain both marriage and men.
More obviously smitten is another Quarto member, Claude
(Bryan Fenkart), who has fallen for the daughter of Leo, a hotelier who has
agreed to house the lads in his hotel. Said daughter, Higgy (Ariana Venturi),
one of Bea’s models, is equally smitten with Claude and they quickly plight
their troth and set a wedding date, sending the media into a feeding frenzy,
with BBC correspondent Paulina Noble (Liz Wisan) leading the pack of piranhas,
filming daily, if not hourly, pretentious reports on all of the doings.
But there is a snake in the grass in the form of
Don Best (Adam O’Byrne), the group’s former drummer, who with the help of Boris
(Andrew Musselman), a tabloid journalist, and Colin (Brian McManamon), a fey
paparazzo, plots to destroy the romance by using doctored photographs of Higgy
frolicking sans clothes on the eve of her wedding. Incensed at the pictorial
revelation, Claude assails Higgy at the altar, sending his bride-to-be off to
cry her eyes out in the loo.
Will true love be thwarted? Not if the good men
and true of Scotland Yard have anything to say about it, for Mr. Berry
As directed by Jackson Gay, with Beatle-like songs
by Billie Joe Armstrong, this romp through Shakespeare land is a delight from
just about start to finish. The audience may need a few minutes to adjust to the
accents and metrics, but once the ear is accustomed to all of the iambs, things
move along swimmingly, with Serralles and Barnes setting the pace as their
characters verbally joust and bicker.
Jeanine Serralles as Bea, Ariana Venturi as Higgy,
and Keira
Naughton as Ulcie.
Performances are, across the board, outstanding,
with Serralles showing a deft knack for physical comedy. A scene in which she
must hide as her entourage discusses Ben’s supposed enduring love for her is a
comic gem worthy of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin complete with a balky
dress-form mannequin, a bear rug, a vomit-slick floor and, believe it or not, a
used condom (the groundlings would have loved it). Taking part in this
discussion is Higgie, Frida (Ceci Fernandez), and Ulcie (Kiera Naughton), and Ulcie,
hooked on booze, drugs and sex with big men, gets all of the best lines, which
Naughton delivers with delightful nastiness – at one point she suggests to
Higgy that it would probably be best if she gave birth to a retarded child
since you can put him or her in a corner with a spatula and the child will be
amused for hours – that kind of nastiness.
Greg Stuhr as Mr. Berry, Anthony Manna as Mr.
Coal,
Brian McManamon as Colin Rawlins, Andrew Musselman
as Boris, and Jabari Brisport as Mr. Cake
as Boris, and Jabari Brisport as Mr. Cake
Then there are the
intrepid men of Scotland Yard, led by the pompous and clueless Mr. Berry . Their extended
scene in the second act as they interrogate Boris and Colin is filled with
witty badinage that devolves into slapstick involving a syringe filled with a
sleep-inducing serum. Listen closely during this free-for-all for some lines
purloined from other of The Bard’s plays, namely “Romeo and Juliet” and
“Richard III.”
With dead-on
costumes by Jessica Ford, mood-enhancing lighting by Paul Whitaker and multiple,
evocative sets by Michael Yeargan, “These Paper Bullets!” pleases the eye as
much as the ear…and the funny bone, especially if you were around when the Fab
Four were gaining their fame. If you were, then you’ll pick up on many of the
allusions Jones has filled his script with…without needing much Help! And if
you weren’t, you’ll still enjoy the madcap mayhem.
“These Paper
Bullets!” runs through April 5. For tickets or more information call
203-432-1234 or go to www.yalerep.org.
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