In "Equivocation," Shakespeare steps onto the stage in the character of Shag the playwright member of the theater company, the Kings Men. Called upon by Robert Cecil, Shag is requested to write a play actually King James has already written it, Cecil tells Shag they just need him to add a bit of dialogue, entrances and exits and witches--"the king wants witches."
The subject of the play is the Gunpowder plot, the foiled attempt by a group of disgruntled Catholics to dig a tunnel under Parliament and blow up the king, his family and assorted other nobles and politicians.
As Shag reluctantly takes on the challenge of writing a play that tells the truth and keeps his head on his shoulders, he interviews some of the principals in this alleged plot uncovered by an anonymous letter that has allowed the government to go after Catholics. His questions begin to grow--how, he asks, could a small army of people dig such a tunnel without anyone noticing, and also, what did they do with the dirt?
Thus begins the challenge of how to tell the truth in difficult times, that creates a brilliant link over the centuries into here and now.
"Equivocation" sparkles and flashes with wit as the Kings Men try to come up with a play that will tell a truth the king might rather not hear, and the kings counselor certainly does not have in mind. The genius of this work, however, is in its construction and mesmerizing presentation by a cast of six: two fixed characters, Shag and his daughter, Judith, around whom the rest swirl in and out of characters as deftly as magicians.
This is one of the must-see plays in the 2009 lineup.