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<\/a>In addition to being a playwright, screenwriter and teacher, Cain is a Jesuit priest, and therefore eminently qualified to write this gnarly, brilliantly constructed work about the Jesuit Gunpowder Plot of 1605. That\u2019s when a bunch of rebels plotted to blow up the House of Parliament \u2014 and with it the protestant King James I, his family and his supporters \u2014 thereby restoring a Catholic king to the throne.<\/p>\n
Someone ratted out the conspirators before they could light the fuse. All were captured, convicted, hanged, and drawn and quartered the following year. It is during this period that a man named William Shagspear, here called \u201cShag,\u201d is commissioned by King James\u2019s prime minister, Robert Cecil, to write a play about the plot, its foiling and the torture of the plotters. King James himself has written the \u201ctreatment\u201d from which Shag is expected to write the play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t do current events,\u201d Shag (Robert Smyth) tells Cecil (Francis Gercke). \u201cWe do true histories of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Shag takes the assignment and the purse that goes with it, he insists on talking with the plotters to learn the truth and simultaneously goes into rehearsal with his troupe, the King\u2019s Men. The king\u2019s play unfolds before us, along with rehearsals for Shag\u2019s new play, \u201cMacbeth,\u201d and bits of \u201cHamlet\u201d and \u201cKing Lear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Troupe members portray multiple roles, themselves, characters in Shag\u2019s plays, the plotters and the royals.<\/p>\n Employing age-old theatrical devices, bits and pieces of Jeanne Reith\u2019s clever period-mixed costumes and the amazing acumen and versatility of her actors, director Deborah Gilmour Smyth assists onlookers\u2019 discernment of the rapidly unfolding and intertwined plotlines, as Shag discovers that King James\u2019 version of the truth differs vastly from what he is learning. The result is a paean to Shagspear and a life in the theater. And, I might add, a delight to Shakespeare devotees. I wept at the end, partly because I was moved and partly because Cain\u2019s heady romp had concluded.<\/p>\n In addition to Shag (quietly dazzling Robert Smyth) and Nate (the multi-talented Gercke), there are three additional troupe members, Sharpe (poignant Ross Hellwig), Richard (solid Paul Eggington) and Armin (exceptionally versatile Brian Mackey). Each is fully utilized. All save Smyth play numerous roles. The play\u2019s other character is Shag\u2019s daughter, Judith (wondrously affecting Caitie Grady), twin of his late, lamented son, Hamnet. Judith acts as the troupe\u2019s laundress, loves her father and endures much neglect just to be near him. Their relationship is strained because she is so like her twin that Shag can barely tolerate having her around.<\/p>\n Deborah Gilmour Smyth \u2014 one of San Diego\u2019s great treasures, whose casting and direction are jewel-like \u2014 acts as sound designer as well and has written a lovely score for unaccompanied cello (played by Diana Elledge) to support the action. This all takes place upon Sean Fanning\u2019s set, representative of the bare bones, Elizabethan-style stage of the original Globe Theatre, with ornate golden columns \u2014 that support the rough hewn of the over above, the under, and the heavens \u2014 and staircases on both sides. Nathan Peirson is lighting designer and Jordan Miller is fight director.<\/p>\n<\/a>