A flabby romantic battle of wills — Elizabeth Shakespeare and the Astute Detective

***

Thanks to its intriguing premise, Abraham Alan Ross”™ romantic comedy Elizabeth Shakespeare and The Astute Detective is a play with a promising start. A scruffy private investigator returns to his homey office and clues in the audience by addressing us directly in the expected hard-boiled fashion. Paunchy and grey-bearded, our P.I. Tad Maxwell (Chris DeCarlo) recalls an encounter with a prospective client, a slim, black satin-clad femme fatale Elizabeth (Pia Pownall) who claims she is a direct descendant of the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. Elizabeth says needs is a willing envoy to travel to England to retrieve the Will”™s original will. Or is there more to this client than she is revealing?

Although Tad”™s peril radar goes off (“She was a vision of danger, cloaked in loveliness,”) he agrees to take the case. But no one actually leaves for jolly old England.  Instead, a barrage of witty repartée ensues between the prickly pair. Ross”™ play devotes most of its time to an enthusiastic debate about the veracity of the origins of Shakespeare”™s famous works.

Thanks to some nifty sci-fi special effects, we flash back in time to converse with the Bard himself, as well as Edward deVere, the 17^th Earl of Oxford (both parts amusingly played by James Schendel) who many scholars believe is the true author of Shakespeare”™s canon.

Unfortunately this promising idea soon collapses into a jumbled, incoherent mess. Tad”™s tendency for theatrics meshes well with Elizabeth”™s high-flown language, but it would be great if the two main actors didn”™t fluff their lines so frequently. Elizabeth”™s character demonstrates an odd vacillation between wanting to murder Tad and romance him. The tentative swordplay doesn”™t work all that well on such a small stage, but it”™s a valiant effort and still mildly entertaining.

Somewhere within this rambling yet witty duel of wills and Wills is a clever play. Some rigorous re-working is required.

Elizabeth Shakespeare and The Astute Detective

The Main Stage at Santa Monica Playhouse

1211 4th  Street

(between Arizona and Wilshire)

Santa  Monica, CA 90401-1391

Performances:

Runs until  Sunday, October 24^th, 2010
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm

Sundays at 6:00pm

Tickets $25.00, purchase here or call  310-394-9779 x 1

Review by Pauline Adamek