A race against time to preserve the words of the world’s greatest playwright before they fade from memory propels Lauren Gunderson’s The Book Of Will, the fascinating, illuminating, crowd-pleasing latest from A Noise Within.

The year is 1619, and though William Shakespeare has only been dead for three years, his greatest plays are already being desecrated across London.

One theater is staging “Two Gentlemen of Antwerp.” Another is presenting Hamlet, albeit with the Prince of Denmark’s most famous soliloquy coming out of a young ham actor’s mouth something like this: “To be, or not to be… Aye, there’s the point. To Die, to sleep, is that all? Aye all.”

No wonder then that Richard Burbage (Frederick Stuart), giant of the London stage, John Heminges (Geoff Elliott), financial manager for Shakespeare’s King’s Men theater troupe, and actor extraordinaire Henry Condell (Jeremy Rabb) are up in arms as they debate how best to combat seeing their beloved Will’s words turned into “shit wrapped in roses.”

And if this weren’t already troubling enough, Burbage’s sudden demise marks not only the death of the most brilliant Shakespearean of his time, but the only one to have committed every single Shakespeare play to memory, leaving John and Henry in a quandary.

If they don’t search the land for every remaining trace of Shakespeare’s written words, they will die along with those who performed them exactly as written.

Unless, suggests Henry, “we gather them, collect them all, collect them in a book of Will’s plays, a collection of Will’s work for us, and if we’re going to collect them all in a book anyway, we could just publish them, and not in some cheap quarto like those pirated versions, but our own version, the real plays by William Shakespeare, set down as they were done by the King’s Men but done now for everyone.”

Add to this the fact that the King’s Men don’t have the publishing rights to anything that’s already been printed (no matter how inaccurately), nor do they have the money to undertake such a massive endeavor, and it’s not only time that’s not on John and Henry’s side.

Regardless of all this, the race to scour London’s corners and cupboards in search of hidden treasures is on.

Playwright Gunderson fills the stage with one colorful character after another, not just the aforementioned three, but John and Henry’s devoted wives Rebecca (Deborah Strang) and Elizabeth (Trisha Miller), the Hemingeses’ feisty daughter Alice (Nicole Javier), meticulous stage manager Ed Knight (Stanley Andrew Jackson), self-effacing clerk Ralph Crane (Kasey Mahaffy), loquacious, larger-than-life Ben Jonson (Alex Morris), and many more, giving all of these actors (and Kelvin Morales) ample opportunities to demonstrate acting chops and versatility in spades.

Audiences could hardly ask for a production more gloriously staged (by co-directors Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott), performed (by a cast almost entirely composed of A Noise Within Resident Artists), or designed (by a crème-de-la-crème team of L.A.-based talents).

Elliott and Rabb do some of their finest work as best friends carrying on a genius’s legacy, Strang and Miller shine as two very different but equally supportive spouses, and Javier delivers a captivating turn as the enterprising Alice.

As Burbage, the always commanding Stuart stops the show with a rapid-fire mashup of snippets from eight of Shakespeare’s greatest monologs, and Morris is once again a force of nature as the bombastic but brilliant Ben Jonson.

Last but not least, Mahaffy’s explosive hairdo only adds to the delight of seeing him as shy but quick-witted Ralph, Jackson is terrific as the detail-oriented Ed, and Morales couldn’t be more engaging as talentless actor Marcus.

And these are just some of the roles that afford the multi-tasking Jackson, Javier, Mahaffy, Miller, Morales, Morris, Strang, and Stuart one chance after another to dazzle.

The Book Of Will looks splendiferous as all get-out on Frederica Nascimento’s expansive, elegant set, a scenic design that’s been lit to glowing perfection by Ken Booth and enhanced throughout by Nicholas Santiago’s vivid, ingenious video design.

Sound designer Robert Oriol gives the production a stirring, cinematic musical underscoring, Angela Balogh Calin outfits the cast in a bevy of stunning Elizabethan costumes, and Shelia Dorn’s topnotch hair and makeup help distinguish character from character.

Andrea Odinov is dialect coach and Miranda Johnson-Haddad is dramaturg.

Clifton Adams, Tiffany Coty, Caitlin Duffy, Rosney Mauger, Brendan Mulligan, Dennis Pearson, Arely Vianet, and Jack Zubieta are understudies.

Deena Tovar is stage manager and Erin Nicole Eggers is assistant stage manager.

It’s rare indeed that A Noise Within gets to stage a 21st-century play, let alone one a mere half-dozen years old, but The Book Of Will’s Shakespeare connection makes it an ideal fit for a company that promises audiences “Classic Theatre, Modern Magic.” This modern classic is as magical as they get.

A Noise Within, 3352 East Foothill Blvd, Pasadena.
www.ANoiseWithin.org

–Steven Stanley
May 13, 2023
Photos: Craig Schwartz

Tags: A Noise Within, Lauren Gunderson, Los Angeles Theater Review