DOGG'S HAMLET, CAHOOT'S MACBETH by Tom Stoppard at The Atlantic Stage 2

L-R: Lucy Van Atta, Peter Schmitz, Christo Grabowski, and Connor Wright in DOGG'S HAMLET.  Photo by Stan Barouh.

Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC) was founded in 1987 and moved to New York in 2007.  This year, in association with Middlebury College, it is staging a limited engagement of works by Vaclav Havel, Harold, Pinter, Samuel Beckett, and Tom Stoppard at The Atlantic Stage 2 on West 16th Street in downtown Manhattan.  Half of this season’s program, Havel: The Passion of Thought, consists of three of Havel’s “Vanek plays” – Audience, Private View, and Protest – together with Pinter’s The New World Order and Beckett’s Catastrophe.  Last week, we were fortunate enough to attend a performance of that production and we thoroughly enjoyed it (see our recentpost).

The other half of PTP/NYC’s thirty-third repertory season showcases Tom Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth.  Now, having attended a performance of that show as well, we are delighted to say that it is just as good.  In fact, it is terrific.

In Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstein challenged the generally accepted view of language as being fully explicable in terms of signification – i.e., the idea that all words, in all circumstances, may be understood as simply standing in for the objects, actions or qualities they represent.  That, of course, is the way children learn languages to begin with: they are shown five, red apples or a boy throwing a ball and are thereby taught what the words “five,” red,” “apple,” “boy,” “throw,” and “ball” mean.  But while Wittgenstein never denied that such signification plays an important role in language, he contended that there was far more to language, meaning and communication than that.

As an example, he imagined a situation in which two construction workers – A and B – shared a primitive language consisting only of the four words: “block,” “pillar,” “slab,” and “beam.”  Now if an observer, unfamiliar with the language, were to hear A shout out “Beam!” and then were to see B handing something to A, it certainly would be reasonable for him to conclude that the word “beam” merely signified whatever it was that B handed to A..  But what if it didn’t?  The word “beam,” as A used it and as B understood it, might actually have meant “bring me that object” or, if B were already aware of what A would want next, it might even simply have meant something like “Next” or “Here” or “Ready” or “OK.”

In the late 1970s, Tom Stoppard was so inspired by that passage in Philosophical Investigations and by the blacklisting of the Czechoslovakian playwright Pavel Kohout that he wrote two plays: Dogg’s Hamlet and Cahoot’s Macbeth.  Both were based on Shakespearean classics (much as was Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead); both imagined the ramifications of speakers of different languages using the same words but with different meanings and/or understanding the same words in different ways; and the two plays were meant to be produced together as Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth.  Indeed, Stoppard expressly stated:

“The comma that divides Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth also serves to unite two plays that have common elements; the first is hardly a play at all without the second, which cannot be performed without the first.”

Dogg’s Hamlet is a direct riff on Wittgenstein’s thought experiment regarding the meanings of words based upon their actual use rather than solely on their signification.  In Stoppard’s play, several high school students including Abel (Zach Varricchione), Baker (Connor Wright), and Charlie (Madeline Russell) are preparing a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in English.  The catch is that the students only speak Dogg which uses the same words as English does but with altogether different meanings (“useless,” for instance, means “good day” and “mouseholes” means “egg”) so that to them, what we understand as English is truly a foreign language.   When Easy (Matthew Ball), a deliveryman who speaks English rather than Dogg, arrives with materials to build the play’s set – including bricks, cubes, slabs and planks - all hell breaks loose.

That, of course, is because what Easy means by “brick,” “cube,” “slab,” and “plank” (which is what we and other English-speakers mean by those words) isn’t at all what Abel, Baker, Charlie and other Dogg-speakers mean by them.  To Dogg-speakers, “brick” means what “here” means to Easy; “slab” means “yes” or “okay”; “cube” means “thanks” or “thank you”; and “plank” means “ready.”  A collapsing Tower of Babel would seem inevitable – and it is.

Ultimately, Dogg’s Hamlet does include a performance of a comically abridged version of Hamlet - and then an encore performance of an even more abbreviated version of that.  And, as something of a bonus, Easy (and the audience) manage to learn (or “catch”) a little bit of Dogg to boot.

L-R: Denise Cormier, Christopher Marshall, Lucy Van Atta, and Tara Giordano in CAHOOT'S MACBETH.  Photo by Stan Barouh.

Cahoot’s Macbeth pushes the envelope even further.  Stoppard dedicated this play to the Czechoslovakian playwright Pavel Kohout who, together with others, was prevented from plying his theatrical trade in his native country by the totalitarian Communist Government of Czechoslovakia.  In response, Kahout, Pavel Landovsky, and others formed the “Living-Room Theatre” (LRT) troupe which supported itself by working as street-sweepers and waitresses by day while secretly performing plays in homes at night.

One such performance (of an abridged version of Macbeth), taking place in Cahoot’s Macbeth, is interrupted by the arrival of an Inspector (Tara Giordano) who understandably sees in the troupe’s “acting without authority” a metaphorical attack on the authority of the Communist Government.  And once again, Easy appears – only this time he’s speaking Dogg rather than English!

Stoppard’s double bill is as effective as George Orwell’s 1984 in its depiction of the transcendent importance of language in human society, especially in repressed societies.  Its play on words, its coded references, its metaphorical allusions, all of which we have come to associate with Stoppard, are here used to produce a very effective serio-comic double-barreled tour de force.

All of the members of the PTP/NYC ensemble deserve recognition for jobs very well done, with several of them playing multiple roles in these plays within plays, but I was especially impressed by the performances of Peter Schmitz in his multiple roles as Dogg, Shakespeare and Claudius in Dogg’s Hamlet and as Duncan and Lennox in Cahoot’s Macbeth, Matthew Ball as Easy in both plays, Christo Grabowski as Fox Major and Hamlet in Dogg’s Hamlet and as Banquo and Cahoot in Cahoot’s Macbeth, and Tara Giordano as Lady in Dogg’s Hamlet and as the Inspector in Cahoot’s Macbeth.

And kudos should go out to all of those at PTP/NYC who had the insight to create the combination of Havel’s “Vanek plays” (with a Pinter prologue and a Beckett epilogue) with this Stoppard double-bill, thereby underscoring the issues of freedom of speech, the rights of the individual, and the power of the spoken (or written) word.

TWO'S A CROWD Starring Rita Rudner at 59E59 Theaters

L-R: Robert Yacko and Rita Rudner in TWO'S A CROWD.  Photo by Carol Rosergg.

Rita Rudner is a comedic icon.  A frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show, she has starred in several HBO specials including Rita Rudner’s One Night Stand, Born to Be Mild, and Married Without Children, in Rita Rudner: Live from Las Vegas on PBS, and in Rita Rudner: A Tale of Two Dresses on Amazon Prime.  She has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York; at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles; and at the MGM Grand, Harrah’s, and the Venetian in Las Vegas.  In fact she holds the record for the longest running solo comedy show in the history of Las Vegas.

Now she has returned to the stage in New York City, starring in Two’s a Crowd at 59E59 Theaters on East 59th Street in midtown Manhattan.  Ms Rudner co-wrote the light-hearted two-act musical comedy with her husband, Martin Bergman, who also directs the play.

 

Given Ms Rudner’s resume, I was anticipating enjoying a cheerful romp of a play and eventually I was rewarded.  But it took much longer than I had expected and required a bit of patience on my part.  I found the play’s first act to be derivative and predictable and I must admit to having been disappointed.

The play begins with Wendy (Rita Rudner) and Tom (Robert Yacko) being forced to share a room in a Las Vegas hotel as a result of a computer glitch that resulted in the hotel’s overbooking its rooms.  Wendy and Tom couldn’t be more different.  She is as uptight as a woman can be and is only in Las Vegas on her own in an attempt to decide whether or not to leave her husband, Gus (Brian Lohmann), in light of her recent discovery of his infidelity.  Tom, in sharp contrast, is free-wheeling and spontaneous and is in Las Vegas to compete in the World Series of Poker.  Which means, of course, that since they have absolutely nothing in common, Wendy and Tom are sure to end up in bed together.  They do.  And there’s’ your first act.

And then the second act opened and I actually felt as if I was watching an altogether different show.  Gus unexpectedly appears and it is no longer quite so obvious what to expect.  All four of the play’s actors – Ms Rudner, Robert Yacko, Kelly Holden Bashar, and Brian Lohmann – express an exuberance that I found largely lacking in the first act.  Even the music of the second act struck me as far more creative and entertaining than the tunes in the first.

Both Rita Rudner and Robert Yacko were fully accomplished in their respective roles.  But I was surprised and delighted to find that the two supporting actors - Kelly Holden Bashar and Brian Lohmann – were even more entertaining than the two stars.  Ms Bashar plays two very different roles: she is both Louise, VP of Hotel Operations, and Lili, a hotel housekeeper – and she is absolutely terrific in both.  And I thought that her rendition of Lili’s Lament was a real star turn.

Brian Loehmann plays three different roles and handles them all with great aplomb.  In addition to being Wendy’s husband, Gus, he is Joe, a room service waiter, and another unexpected hotel guest.  And his rendition of Fix It All was, like Lili’s Lament, a real show stopper.

So the bottom line is this: even if you’re tempted to leave after the first act, don’t do it.  Stick it out and you’ll ultimately be rewarded by a very entertaining show.

HAVEL: THE PASSION OF THOUGHT - 5 Plays by Havel, Pinter and Beckett

L-R: Michael Laurence and David Barlow in AUDIENCE by Vaclav Havel, part of HAVEL: THE PASSION OF THOUGHT.  Photo by Stan Barouh.

Vaclav Havel will not only be remembered as a remarkably talented Czechoslovakian poet and playwright but, even more importantly, as the political dissident most responsible for challenging Czechoslovakia’s Communist dictatorship.  During his lifetime, all of Havel ’s works were banned in Czechoslovakia and Havel himself was imprisoned for four years but the playwright ultimately prevailed, contributing to the overthrow of his country’s Communist government, becoming its first freely elected President and, subsequent to the separation of the Czech Republic from Slovakia, becoming the President of the Czech Republic as well. 

Perhaps most noteworthy among Havel’s works are what have come to be known as “the Vanek plays,” one act autobiographical plays in which the protagonist, Ferdinand Vanek, a stand-in for Havel himself, seeks to “live in truth,” refusing to make even small compromises with what he perceives to be a fundamentally dishonest system, lest such compromises ultimately lead to the most insufferably evil consequences.

Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC), was founded in 1987 and moved to New York in 2007.  This year, in association with Middlebury College, it is staging a limited engagement of works by Vaclav Havel, Harold, Pinter, Samuel Beckett, and Tom Stoppard at The Atlantic Stage 2 on West 16th Street in downtown Manhattan.  One half of the season’s program, Havel: The Passion of Thought, is devoted to three of Havel’s “Vanek plays” – Audience, Private View, and Protest – bookended by Pinter’s The New World Order as a prologue to Havel’s works and Beckett’s Catastrophe (which actually was written in tribute to Havel) as an epilogue to them.  The other half of the repertory season showcases Tom Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth.

In all three of the “Vanek plays,” David Barlow plays the role of Vanek and he is absolutely superb, beautifully conveying with understated elegance the tortuous moral dilemmas confronting not only Vanek himself but also those with whom he is in contact.  In Audience, Vanek is working at a brewery, the only job he can get without compromising his principles since his release from prison when it quickly becomes apparent to him that he is being spied upon by the authorities and pressured to betray himself.  Michael Laurence, who plays the Brewmaster pressuring him, is delightfully entertaining in his complex serio-comic role.

 

L-R: Christopher Marshall, David Barlow, and Emily Kron in PRIVATE VIEW, part of HAVEL: THE PASSION OF THOUGHT.  Photo by Stan Barouh.

In Private View, Vanek is invited to a private viewing of the newly re-furnished home of his friends Michael (Christopher Marshall) and Vera (Emily Kron).  In this, the zaniest and most slapstick of the three “Vanek plays,” Michael and Vera cannot seem to abide Vanek’s refusal to simply accept their conventional wisdom on everything from sex and family to cooking and home furnishing.  It is a highly amusing and telling example of how difficult it is for some people to accept that others don’t necessarily share their values on everything (nor should they) and they tell it with ribald gusto.

L-R: David Barlow and Danielle Skraastad in PROTEST, part ofpart of HAVEL: THE PASSION OF THOUGHT.  Photo by Stan Barouh. 

In Protest (the very best of the three “Vanek plays”), Vanek confronts a much more difficult and complicated issue: Stanekova (Danielle Skraastad) is, like Vanek, another very talented writer but, unlike him, she is no dissident.  Rather, she has chosen to make her peace with the authorities, accepting their interference with her creative work in exchange for their granting her the opportunity to earn a good living as an approved writer for government-regulated television.  But does this necessarily mean that she is a sell-out or less principled than Vanek?  To his credit,  Havel has the intellectual integrity to deal with this issue head-on.  Might it not be the case that Stanekova’s willingness to compromise with the government and work behind the scenes in attempting to achieve greater freedom and better lives for all Czechoslovakians could actually prove to be more effective than Vanek’s own outright defiance?  And by absolutely refusing to compromise on anything, might Vanek really just be seeking to gratify his own ego?  Ms Skraastad does an outstanding job playing devil’s advocate to Vanek’s self-assurance.

Pinter’s The New World Order, in which an unidentified Man (David Barlow) is menaced in an interview room by Desmond and Lionel (Michael Laurence and Christopher Marshall), universalizes the issues evoked in the subsequent “Vanek plays” and enriches the overall production.  But I was somewhat disappointed in Beckett’s Catastrophe being tacked on as an epilogue.  At least one of the liberties taken with Beckett’s original script, the substitution of a request for a drink rather than the relighting of a cigar, may have seemed inconsequential but it did make a difference and not for the better.

Notwithstanding that minor nit-pick, Havel: The Passion of Thought is an outstanding production and well worth seeing.  (I haven’t yet seen PTP/NYC’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth but I’m certainly looking forward to it.  If it is anywhere near as good as Havel: The Passion of Thought, you’ll be reading another positive review from me very soon.)