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• #Shakespeer theatre movie

And wow, it shows off her ability to get a dramaturgic return on every line. Monahon wrote the role of Anne Hathaway for herself. His character’s throughline leads to an unexpected and untoppable moment in the show.

#Shakespeer theatre movie

Ryan Spahn as Francis has the unquenchable ambition of Eve Harrington (from the movie All About Eve) mixed with the unstoppable optimism embodied in Sally Fields’ famous Academy Award acceptance speech. His Shakespeare is irredeemably whiny, insufferable, and truly deserving of what he gets in the end. But instead of sticking out like a sore thumb, he sweats and wields his comedic ax with as much glee and fervor as everybody else in this ensemble. Michael Urie is the actor with the greatest marquee recognition onstage.

Despite the fact that the play bears her name as its title, however, the character of Jane Anger seems a fourth corner to the menage-a-trois of Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway, and Francis. Workman’s solid “film noir tough broad” presence as the narrator/protagonist constantly breaks the fourth wall to let the audience know whose sympathies they should share and which variation of crazy is worth following. The supple improvisatory actors give this production life.Īmelia Workman, who plays Jane Anger, is a graduate of Duke Ellington School for the Arts (DESA), which along with Howard University makes it their business to turn out more than their share of competent American theater craftspeople. The four featured actors are led into this slightly unhinged adventure under the direction of Jess Chayes, who fearlessly keeps this collection of madcap antics coherent. Michael Urie as William Shakespeare, Amelia Workman as Jane Anger, and Talene Monahon as Anne Hathaway in ‘Jane Anger.’ Photo by DJ Corey Photography. So, rest assured, everything comes out alright at the end. After arguing over who is the real “dark lady of the sonnets” (Jane, Francis, and Anne each have an arguable claim), Shakespeare agrees to sign for the publication of Jane Anger’s work - if she agrees to act as his “muse” and help him bring to completion his newest play. This trio becomes a quartet when they are joined by Shakespeare’s much-put-upon wife, Anne (“second best bed”) Hathaway. When she arrives at the apartment, she encounters - in addition to Shakespeare - Francis, an aspiring actor who was caught in the apartment when the plague lockdown began. Jane sets out to procure Shakespeare’s signature, climbing through the second-story window of his lodgings to do so, since the place he lives has been closed to entry and exit on account of the plague. Shakespeare’s printer informs her that he will not publish her work unless she gets Shakespeare’s signature on the permission agreement. (The word “muse” here has all the double-winking innuendo that you can allow it.) But in 1606 publishing work by women is simply not done. Jane Anger, a female of independent attitude if not means, having acted as a “muse” for Shakespeare in the past, has decided that she wants to have her own writing published. In the early 1600s, there is a plague raging in London, theaters are closed, and - in Playwright Talene Monahon’s conception - William Shakespeare has writer’s block. Ryan Spahn as Francis and Michael Urie as William Shakespeare in ‘Jane Anger.’ Photo by DJ Corey Photography. As in any good revenge tragedy (even though the playwright calls this a “revenge comedy”), there’s lots of highly decorative blood (fight choreographer, Sean Michael Chin special effects, Jeremy Chernick). In the tradition of the insincere and sycophantic Eddie Haskell of Leave It to Beaver fame - this show is all about the yuks.

If you come to the theater expecting a serious exploration of the social relevance of Shakespeare, you might feel like there’s been a bait-and-switch. We also are shown examples of women’s response to those portrayals, especially as demonstrated in the example of the eponymous Jane Anger. We do get some suitably educational notes on the way women were treated in 17th-century Britain and how their lives were portrayed onstage. One of the funniest things about the entire endeavor to me is the length to which the Shakespeare Theatre goes to convince its audience that this play has a serious educational and cultural point to make about the life and times of William Shakespeare, and about feminist relevance and emphasis on the plight of female playwrights of the 17th century. Jane Anger is 90 minutes of unrelenting, unrepentant, and seemingly inexhaustible ridiculousness executed by some very skilled craftspeople.