THEATER REVIEW : Shakespeare Comes to Vivid Life in ‘Alms’

If you are among that very vocal group that thinks William Shakespeare did not write the plays, you might look in on Gregory Bell’s “Alms for Oblivion,” Shakespeare Orange County’s first 1994 production.

It might change your mind.

Written and performed by Bell, under Sherman Howard’s crystal-clear direction at Chapman University, “Alms” is an introduction to the Bard, popping through a time warp to make it perfectly clear that contrary to the opinion of some scholars he is not uneducated; he is conversant with court figures and their shenanigans, and he is a poet.

He also admonishes us that his literary children should not be taken from him any more than the children of any proud parent should be.

Bell’s Shakespeare is very convincing, primarily because a ton of research has allowed him to create the full-blooded, rounded figure of a man, a playwright, a family man--even though he strayed in several directions--and a father who grieved because his wife, Anne, would not join him in London, where his work took him.

This Bard is a man of all time, at home wherever--even on present-day Venice Beach (which he calls “lost Italy”). He stumbles on stage over an anachronistic metal folding chair and professes his amusement at such modern-day accouterments as sunglasses, hair that is tinted neon colors and shoes with wheels. But that’s only a conceit to draw the viewer with him back in time.

The first act is light, airy, gossipy and detailed, with the many moments and moods that lead Shakespeare eventually to London and to the Globe. He is a raconteur, a wit, willing to poke his elbow at his listener to punctuate a joke or take a pratfall to make a point.

The second half of the evening slowly develops into something darker. Here we find a portrait of the maturing Shakespeare, bemoaning the early death of his son Hamnet, finding his way through the labyrinthine puzzle of royal politics and cogitating on the rewards and disadvantages of fame.

Bell’s Shakespeare grows in size and develops a deep, ocher patina. At the end, he quotes Prospero from “The Tempest.” Shakespeare is at the end of his own tempest; when Prospero speaks of breaking his magical staff, the poet breaks his quill pen.

Director Howard has given Bell an intricate framework for his insightful portrait, physically inventive, varied in tone and splashing joyfully over the playwright’s life like a cascade of recalled incident and emotion.

It is, however, Bell’s variegated hues and delicate pirouettes of intellect, both in writing and performance, that give life to his creation.

* “Alms for Oblivion,” Waltmar Theatre, Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Tonight through Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m. $18-$20. (714) 744-7016. Running time: 2 hours.