review

While (Bill) Cain's highly theatrical play is in its heart as serious as death, it is also, much of the time, very funny indeed. A scene of actors rehearsing King Lear and not getting its nihilism is itself worth the price of admission.

Cain's conflation of high drama and suspect history is just one of the ways the play is quintessentially Shakespearean. Let's count some others. It's about a death plot against a king. It's violent (a drawing and quartering, a beheading and two hangings). It has plays-within-a-play (maybe as many as five, I lost count). It has a beautiful young woman (Christine Albright as Judith, Shag's daughter) who speaks truth to power and makes fools of the men. It has a sub-plot (involving Shag and a secret). And while it purports to be about an earlier time, it resonates deeply with the present.

Equivocation is one of those major theatrical experiences that succeeds on so many levels it deserves to be widely produced for years to come. Just as Shakespeare proved you could stage towering dramas and still please the groundlings, Equivocation says that challenging new work can come out of regional theater.

Read the complete review.