‘Shakespeare!’ Plays for Laughs at Globe

“Dammit, Shakespeare!,” Seth Panitch’s new comedy at the Globe Playhouse in West Hollywood, explores the behind-the-scenes relationship between the Elizabethan playwright and the most famous actor of that age, Richard Burbage.

One might expect such a play to focus on the ever-problematic issue of authorship: Did Burbage (or Francis Bacon, or Christopher Marlowe) actually write Shakespeare’s plays? But Panitch, seeking to humanize a remote literary giant, offers instead a fanciful, somewhat precious tale of friendship and creative symbiosis.

Panitch’s conceit has each character wracked by doubts about his talents and jealous of the other’s success. “I write the words, he takes the bows,” Shakespeare (Ken Clement) says in a typical aside. Yet, over time--as the course of their friendship is ingeniously acted out through famous excerpts from the plays--the two develop their own mutual-appreciation society.

Panitch, who plays Burbage, frequently misfires in his efforts to be offhandedly anachronistic (e.g., the actor frets that he will become a question on “Jeopardy!”) and has trouble making the sitcom-style antics completely convincing. But, at its best, “Dammit, Shakespeare!” makes viewers reconsider the ever-present tension between writers and actors.

Director Gregory Gliedman’s ultra-low-budget production has an appropriate venue in the Globe, which is a small-scale replica of Shakespeare’s famous stage.

* “Dammit, Shakespeare!,” Globe Playhouse, 1107 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood. Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends March 5. $15. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours.