Imagine a kid, 16, sitting in a theater – a live theater – guffawing, thoroughly engaged, leaping up at curtain call. And it’s Shakespeare, even. Kind of.
That Laertes is played by a remote-controlled toy bulldozer may have had something to do with it. Or Ophelia as a live goldfish (wait, can a goldfish drown?). Or Polonius as a Teddy Ruxpin doll, his “to thine own self be true” speech recorded on the cassette in his back. Or the gravedigger sampling Justin Timberlake’s “I’m Bringing Sexy Back.” Or Horatio as a marionette with Irish actor Geoffrey Toone’s face taped over his.
OK, maybe the 16-year-old missed that one. I know I did.
That doesn’t begin to explain the appeal of Buntport’s 16th original creation, “Something is Rotten,” featuring “Hamlet” – as a sock puppet.
There have been plenty of stabs at dumbing down the Bard (“The Complete Shakespeare Abridged”). “Rotten” is silly, but hardly dumb. Just the opposite.
“Rotten” is a ripe introduction to Shakespeare. But what that kid won’t even realize is that “Rotten” is a pretty accessible introduction to Samuel Beckett as well.
Three inexplicably, inextricably tied pals, only one an actor, have been compelled to perform “Hamlet.” By whom? The ghost of one’s long-lost sock, of course. No other context or explanation, no sense of time, place or greater purpose. Buntport doesn’t play by those rules. It’s absurdly Beckett.
Julius (Evan Weissman) enters preening and shy, a hint of an actor begging to break out from within him. Harold (Erik Edborg) is dressed in black, stern but trepidatious. He’s a ’50s-looking combination of Michael Douglas in “Falling Down” and Dieter (“Vould you like to touch my monkey?”). Sprawled between them is George (Brian Colonna) an intense “thee-a-tah” actor and narcoleptic.
With a trunk, a few cases and a coat rack, they embark on a fearful demonstration of the power and humor in transformative theater.
Harold, for example, portrays Claudius and Gertrude at once. As the foul king, he has an oversized mask over his head. To become Gertrude, he flings the mask back to reveal his wigged face. Simultaneously he unclasps a bowling bag, unfurling the queen’s dress before him. Brilliant.
The three oddballs bicker and banter as they go about their existential task, never questioning the necessity of its completion. But only George takes the actual art of the presentation all that seriously. His sleepy bouts allow his pals to skip ahead.
Julius is insistent on just two things: the safety of his beloved fish, and that the famous “play within the play” be a cutting from “Death of a Salesman.” As you can imagine, that slightly mucks up eliciting a guilty reaction from the king.
Does “Rotten” mean anything intellectuallly? Who knows. But the writing is absurdly clever, the performances sublime.
The pre-show amusement is an enormous treat; Hannah Duggan performs an endearing new-age folkster’s intro to Shakespeare. Duggan is funny from her first word to her final eyebrow twitch – better than anything “SNL” has done in a decade.
It was obvious the grandparents nearby loved “Rotten” as much as that 16 year old.
Imagine again: Buntport fans new and old walking out buzzing. Just another night at Buntport, where the only comfort zone here is entering a creative danger zone.
-John Moore, September 15, 2006, Denver Post