"William Shakespeare did not write 'I Hate Hamlet'," emphatically states Big Noise Theatre Company director Craig Gustafson. "Paul Rudnick did. Honestly. This is a modern comedy about a TV actor returning to the New York stage, where he is haunted by the ghost of John Barrymore."
Why be so emphatic about this? "Because it's the hardest thing to communicate about this show. You wouldn't believe the number of people who hear the word 'Hamlet' and start having tics and convulsions because the idea of seeing Shakespeare fills them with horror. This isn't Shakespeare. It's a modern situation comedy and an extremely funny one. It's for people who hate Shakespeare as much as for those who love him."
"I Hate Hamlet" is about the haunting of Andrew Rally (played by Mark Mocarski of Chicago), who is about to play Hamlet in Central Park. To help him with this terrifying prospect, Andrew unwittingly summons the ghost of
John Barrymore (Robert Nowak of St. Charles), the greatest Hamlet of the 20th Century, grandfather of
Drew Barrymore (who doesn't make an appearance), and one of the most notorious alcoholic, womanizing, larger-than-life actors who has ever lived. Barrymore cannot return to the afterlife until Andrew has played Hamlet - a prospect that fills Andrew with fear and loathing.
Up until now, Andrew has been a glamorous, boy-toy actor, hot off a prime-time doctor show. He has problems: a relentlessly celibate girlfriend Deirdre (Julie Bayer, Naperville); his beloved agent, an elderly but steely German woman,
Lillian Troy (Aimee Kennedy, Aurora) is very ill; and thanks to chatty realtor
Felicia Dantine (Terri Virgilio, Chicago) he is stuck renting
John Barrymore's historic apartment, an Elizabethan castle in Greenwich Village. Added to the mix is Andrew's charmingly obnoxious writer/director/producer friend
Gary Peter Lefkowitz (
Aaron G. Stash, Mount Prospect), a cheerfully crass force-of-nature who is determined to save Andrew from Shakespeare.
"I Hate Hamlet" is a first-time assignment at Big Noise for director Craig Gustafson (Lombard), who generally directs in the far west suburbs. Producer is
Tom Walker (Carol Stream). Helga Kennedy (Oak Park) and Daiva Paulis (Chicago) are stage managers;
Linda Andrews (Palatine) is assistant director. Swordfight choreography is by Scott Sumerak (Chicago)
Performances of "I Hate Hamlet" by
Paul Rudnick will take place at Prairie Lakes Theatre, 515 E. Thacker Street, Des Plaines. January 15 - February 7. Friday & Saturday at 8:00, Sunday at 3:00. Ticket prices are $20 adults, $18 seniors & students, $12 kids age 12 & younger. For tickets & information, visit www.bignoise.org or call (847) 604-0275.
"If you have to make comparisons," says Gustafson, "this isn't like going to see
Keanu Reeves in 'Hamlet'; it's more like seeing
Peter O'Toole and
Mark Linn-Baker in 'My Favorite Year'. A young man in show business is helped in his career and given life-lessons by a rip-roaring, drunken, lecherous swashbuckling has-been. If you like 'My Favorite Year', you'll love 'I Hate Hamlet'. Did I mention there's a swordfight?"
