Community theatre starting up downtown
Theatre is alive and well in downtown Mount Pleasant.
The Broadway Theatre, 216 E. Broadway St., opens its eighth season of community theatre Friday with Paul Rudnick’s “I Hate Hamlet.”
The show will provide a fun night of comedy, swordplay and Shakespeare, said the play’s producer, Jan Howard.
Although the play is centered on William Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet, the audience will not be bombarded with Shakespearian dialogue, Howard said. The focus of the play is comedy.
“It’s just fun. It’s fun to watch,” Howard said.
The show is presented by The Friends of The Broadway and The Broadway Players. It will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Sept. 17 and 18 and at 2 p.m. Sunday.
In the play, an out-of-work actor moves to New York City to find a job. He winds up landing the role of Hamlet in a summer theatre festival and also rents a flat that used to belong to John Barrymore.
John Barrymore, grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore, is well-known for his portrayal of Hamlet in his lifetime. He also is known as a womanizer, hopeless drunk and egomaniac, Howard said. In “I Hate Hamlet,” Barrymore carries these qualities into his afterlife as well.
After the actor moves in to the apartment, Barrymore’s ghost begins haunting him, causing chaos and refusing to leave until he teaches the young actor how to play Hamlet.
A ‘good piece of theatre’
Throughout the play, the audience will be “laughing and crying and maybe questioning their own direction in life,” said Michael Meakin, the show’s director.
The Broadway Theatre’s production of “I Hate Hamlet” features theatre veterans and novice actors, Howard said.
Rachel Foster-Lifson, associate professor of psychology, will take the stage for the first time ever Friday, playing Lillian Troy, an elderly and no-nonsense talent agent from Germany.
Foster-Lifson said her favorite part of her acting experience so far has been working with the other cast members and becoming good friends with them.
Howard agreed that working with the actors, as well as watching them rehearse and interact with each other, has been a great experience.
Along with the cast, Meakin said the costuming is incredible, the set is incredible and there is a big sword fight.
“(It is just) a really good piece of theatre,” Meakin said.
Tickets cost $8 each and are available at Ric’s Food Center, 705 S. Mission St.; Ace of Diamonds, 128 E. Broadway St.; Bennigan’s, 2424 S. Mission St.; and the Doherty Hotel and Conference Center in Clare. Tickets also may be purchased at the Broadway Theatre on show days.
