Two companies, two approaches to the Bard

By David C. Nichols

Nov. 8, 2002 12 AM PT

Special to The Times

William Shakespeare gets a shake-up at the Odyssey Theatre in two notable productions demonstrating that after 400-plus years, the Bard remains the most pertinent writer around. Moreover, beyond contemporary accessibility, both “Henry V” and “Standup Shakespeare” offer considerable fun.

Marking the local debut of the Independent Shakespeare Company, “Henry” illuminates Shakespeare by imagining corollaries to Elizabethan performance conditions, recalling the actor-managed troupes of yore by way of commedia dell’arte.

The sagely edited text is rich with eloquence and innate topicality. On a stage sporting a ladder, a flat and a rolled-up banner hanging overhead, actors randomly prep until a figure with clipboard (Melissa Chalsma) calls places.

The troupe assembles, the banner unfurls and, with Chalsma’s “O for a Muse of Fire,” the 1599 account of Henry Plantagenet’s French connection unfolds.

Director Brett W. Reynolds maintains narrative clarity, cleanly joining discursive ease with fidelity to meter. The lighting is unaltered throughout, placing focus squarely on the actors. The minimalist props and costumes are unerringly apt, especially the sashes and headgear.

As is the 10-member cast, a marvel of ensemble unity in 38 roles. Chalsma is a genuine find: voracious as the Chorus, pugnacious as Macmorris, delicious as Katharine. If David Melville’s intense, turtleneck-bedecked Henry mutes the heroic abandon, he is nevertheless royally gifted, his resemblance to Windsors past and present an added boon.

Standout characterizations include J. Paul Boehmer’s daft Bardolph, fine York and electrifying Dauphin; Danny Campbell’s spot-on Pistol; Megan Cornelius’ taut Montjoy and sweet Boy; Lorenzo Gonzalez’s brash Nym and droll Alice; Matthew Henerson’s wily Canterbury; Randy Howk’s oily Ely and bluff Fluellen; Andrea Stevens Morgan’s lewd Mistress Quickly; and David Nathan Schwartz’s hangdog King of France.

In its West Coast premiere, “Standup Shakespeare” is even more revisionist at its core. Ray Leslee and Kenneth Walsh introduced their cabaret setting of Shakespearean verse at New York’s West Bank Cafe in 1984, followed by the 1987 off-Broadway production under the direction of Mike Nichols.

A regional favorite, “Standup” makes reference to current attitudes through word-pointing, transposition of sources and Leslee’s excellent, eclectic compositions.

A hipster-clad Fool (Gregory Itzin, alternating with Armin Shimerman) offers a polyglot prologue, opening with “I am a fellow of the strangest mind in the world,” ending on “there is nothing either good, or bad, but thinking makes it so.” He is joined by two vocalists (Peyce Byron and Mary Jo Mecca), a pianist (musical director David Manning), a violinist (Andrea Gaspar) and an in-house heckler (John Kassir, alternating with Mark Povinelli). These ingratiating folk trace a roundelay of romance and ribaldry, with undercurrents merging R&B; and the Renaissance.

Under Casey Biggs’ direction, the piece stands coronet and doublet above most cabaret offerings. The singers are smashing, with Byron a clarion jazz tenor and Mecca an incendiary enchantress.

The baser juxtapositions might trouble purists -- one disgruntled gentleman departed midstream during the reviewed performance -- and uninitiated audiences may not withstand the eventual repetition of point. Still, “Standup Shakespeare” is highly entertaining in its anomalous fashion, and thespians should hie themselves hence.

Shakespeare plays

What: “Henry V”

Where: Odyssey Theatre, 2055

S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.

When: Mondays-Tuesdays, 8 p.m.

Ends: Nov. 26

Price: $15

Contact: (323) 860-8868

Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

What: “Standup Shakespeare”

Where: Odyssey Theatre, 2055

S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.