By Anne Ritchie
There is theatre timed to motion and music, plots honed by swordplay and performances whose success hinges on a powerfully spoken word.
Blackhorse Village Players bring together all this, and more, in Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet. The Shakespearean spin-off merges the eloquence of the Great Bard with the adventurously feminist spirit of an academic assistant.
Angie Sapalovsky portrays the love-stung researcher Constance Ledbelly, who is captivated by her handsome professor, even as she keeps busy chasing down an anonymous “fool” who, she believes, once orchestrated the actions of Othello and Romeo and Juliet. Swept into the action by a mysterious text, she plucks up courage and sets off to search for Shakespeare’s missing character.
The powers of alchemy, engineered by Geordie Derraugh, take hold. Derraugh sets a swift pace, deftly threading us through swordplay, trickery, and deceit. His timing and speech is impeccable; he skillfully draws Constance deeper into the plays, out of Shakespearean drama, into McDonald’s insight and wit over and over again.
Sapalovsky proves 10 times over the versatility of her talent. Whether she is under the sword in the middle of a medieval battle, an enthusiastic accomplice to a powerful Desdemona, or a marriage counselor for a squabbling Romeo and Juliet.
Rod Cook is striking as an ardent Othello (among others) countered by Derraugh’s dashing Iago. They offer a strong performance physically and vocally, handling the script and sword with admirable talent. The fights are as well-played as the romance which beckons the talented actors.
The drama and deceits of Othello are interrupted by Sapalovsky, who deftly champions the decidedly spirited Desdemona (Jo- Anne Pulfer). Pulfer puts a powerful twist on her roles with the same talents that won her last season’s Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role award from Theatre Ontario. She is thoroughly enjoyable and believable, portraying the loyal and feisty Desdemona, et al.
With a whirl of creatively played light and sound, the action, with Constance and Desdemona in tow, is whisked to Verona, where Ashley Abbot takes the audience by storm as a petulant Juliet to Derraugh’s roving eyed Romeo. Abbot is highly entertaining with her squabbles and impulsive nature. Aided and abetted by Constance. and Desdemona, it’s riotous good fun!
With a multitude of characters played out in multiple times and places, director Kate Horzempa, assisted by Danny Merizzi and producer Vicki Drier, skillfully created a talented mosaic where classics merge with imagination, past mixes with present, and fantasy meets with complex insights. This not only requires a talented cast of quick change artists, but the experience, coordination and imagination of a lighting design, set construction, stage management and capped by an educational fight workshop.
Your wholehearted admiration, appreciation, applause is merited and can be given at performances up to Oct. 10 with an encore fund-raiser scheduled for Oct. 17.
Even better, check out the trailer on youtube by searching Blackhorse Village Players Good night Desdemona, and enjoy!
