One of the truly distressing things about American Shakespeare productions is that they are usually staged as fossilized productions, set in the era in which they were written. Drawing loosely on the plot, power-dynamics and characters of Much Ado about Nothing, Paper Bullets, by John A. Ellis, is set in contemporary Hollywood.
Joey, the head of Aragon enterprises, ( a failing production company and talent agency) is retiring, causing a power struggle between his ineffective son Pedro and the former drug-addicted ruthless daughter, Joanna, to control the company and reverse the family fortunes.
Both Pedro played by Christopher Martinez, and Joanna, played by Danielle Daggerty, are shown to be ruthless in different ways, one exploiting human beings even more than a People magazine editor would; the other destroying people’s lives to thwart her brother’s plans. Hero and Claudio-two A-list actors are used by both as their wedding is exploited for its media value. Benedict ( as a truly Neanderthal rock star with a leather jacket and a Mohawk ) and Beatrice, the best friends of the bride and groom make sporadic appearances, but the subplot of Beatrice and Benedict is mangled and practically superfluous to the real action of the play.
Although the play made some poignant comments about greed and ambition, the script suffered from some huge flaws. First of all, the exposition was unfocused and fairly incoherent. Written like a film script, the short scenes moved too slowly and a lot of extraneous material was thrown in making the play overly long. Also it was not a comedy but a tragedy unlike Shakespeare’s original play. Once the exposition was over, the treachery of the plot was extremely interesting, but the dialogue was only good in a few places. The witty verbal sparring of Beatrice and Benedict was completely absent as was the harmless “plot” to get them to fall in love, so their eventual coupling did not make much sense. A thorough re-write would be in order.
The strongest performances were by the actors playing minor characters. Playing a seemingly perfect ambitious “assistant” Lindsay Krause as Tandy Williams, was a delight to watch in her business suit, business hairstyle and business high heels. Jackie Miedema, played both the sidekick of a drug-addicted wannabe cinematographer and a well-packaged slick TV interviewer. Adria La Morticella as Hero seemed to connect emotionally with her character more than the other actors, but mostly the acting relied on the clichés rather than the emotional depth of the characters.
I commend the writer for adapting this play into a modern setting. Serious points were made about how the media exploits people’s private lives and how spin-doctors re-package events and emotions for public consumption.
PAPER BULLETS. Ghostlight Theatricals. Ballard Underground 2222 NW Market. Ballard, Seattle, March 8-24. Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm Tickets http://paper.bpt.me or at the door. http:/ghostlighttheatricals.org