Equivocation
Opening Night: March 2, 2010
Closing: March 28, 2010
Theater: MTC - Stage 1
Bill Cain’s Equivocation is set in the early 1600’s and focuses on what happens when a member of King James’ court attempts to commission a play about the Gunpowder Plot, in which plans were laid to blow up Parliament, from Shakespeare.
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March 3, 2010
What if Shakespeare had never written “Macbeth”? Well, looking on the bright side, many would have escaped the plague of bad luck that ostensibly attends productions of “the Scottish play,” as it is referred to by theatrical folk to keep the fabled ill fortune at bay. And I suspect that Kelsey Grammer and Alec Baldwin, to name just two fine actors who have belly-flopped in the title role in New York, could warm to a fantasy of the Scottish play being scotched at birth, as it were.
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March 2, 2010
Playwright Bill Cain risks a pack of bad luck by extensively quoting the Scottish play in "Equivocation," a rambling, mixed bag of a play. It’s an ambitious piece, and the author deserves credit for tackling some deep themes, but there’s too much going on and it’s told in such a confusing manner, I don’t have to equivocate: The verdict is thumbs down.
READ THE REVIEWMarch 10, 2010
Any theater person will tell you to never, ever refer to “Macbeth” in a theater. If you quote ‘the Scottish play’ it’s bad luck; the tragedy is cursed. So the cast and crew of Bill Cain’s smart if overstuffed "Equivocation" are probably on guard as their play speculates on how and why Shakespeare wrote you know what.
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March 3, 2010
The Bridge Project was founded last year to mount productions of classical theater with top-flight Anglo-American casts under the direction of Sam Mendes. It does that, certainly, and does it well, but perhaps the most notable element of a Bridge Project effort is the stunning production design. Shakespeare’s The Tempest—which opened last week at the BAM Harvey Theater, where it is now playing in repertory with this season’s other Bridge play, As You Like It—is no exception: It is beautiful.
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March 11, 2010
It’s a universal superstition among the greasepaint set: Never, ever, say “Macbeth.” Don’t recite any of the tragedy’s lines. Because if you quote Macbe—sorry, “the Scottish Play,” you doom your own production to bad luck—from falling scenery to onstage heart attacks. See, that play about the regicidal Thane of Cawdor is cursed. Accordingly, the cast and crew of Bill Cain’s sharp-witted if overstuffed Equivocation are probably on guard: Their comedy-drama speculates on how and why Shakespeare wrote you-know-what.
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