Also Playing

...And to My Daughter

 ((Tiffany Theater, West Hollywood; 99 seats; $ 25 top))

By HOYT HILSMAN

Judy Arnold presents a dark comedy in two acts by Jan Harris. Directed by Remi Aubuchon.
 
Strove ... Michael McKenzie
Tryan ... Richard Hilton
Doctor John Hall ... Scott Burkholder
Tom Quinney ... Bob McCracken
Ann Hathaway ... Sheree North
Margaret Wheeler ... Kate Asner
Judith Shakespeare ... Joanna Lipari
 

This dark comedy, about Shakespeare's youngest daughter, unearths a curious sidelight of the Bard's family life, but never rises above the level of Elizabethan soap opera, despite some good performances.

Judith Shakespeare (Joanna Lipari) is portrayed here as the 31-year-old, illiterate spinster daughter who cares for the house in Stratford with her mother, Ann Hathaway (Sheree North), while her father lies dying in his bedroom.

Since neither Judith nor her mother can read, they rely on local tavern owner Tom Quinney (Bob McCracken) to keep them abreast of Shakespeare's will. When Judith, who was never her father's favorite, learns that she will inherit nothing unless she is married, she makes a bargain with Quinney to marry her.

At the same time, Judith runs afoul of her brother-in-law, Dr. John Hall (Scott Burkholder), who is apparently poisoning Shakespeare to hasten his death. And she must face competition from a local girl, Margaret Wheeler (Kate Asner), who is already pregnant with Quinney's child.

It is hard enough to follow some of these plot machinations, let alone sort out fact from fiction in the historical research of playwright Jan Harris. However, the real problem is working up much concern for Judith as she tries to maneuver her way through family rivalries and the complexities of legal inheritance.

Playwright Harris lays little emotional foundation for Judith's character, and is content to simply set out the plot points of her story without digging into emotional subtext. In addition, Lipari's performance is somewhat cool and distant, without revealing much of the core of her character.

While director Remi Aubuchon leads the cast steadily through the piece, there seems to have been little exploration of the real feelings or explosive tension that must have existed in a family where the father is a literary giant while the mother and daughter languish essentially as illiterate servants.

With the added question of Shakespeare's death hovering in the background and the strong suggestion that he was poisoned by his own son-in-law, this play inadvertently raises all of the unanswered authorship questions without ever addressing them. The playwright offers this potentially fascinating glimpse into Shakespeare's life at strictly face value, without exploring any of its more profound and even explosive implications.

The tone of the piece dances between comic and melodramatic, with most of the best moments offered by the storytellers Stove (Michael McKenzie) and Tryan (Richard Hilton). The talented and winning McKenzie and Hilton, in a series of asides, interjections, songs and winks manage to infuse both a sense of tone and subtext into the piece. It is a pity that this pair wasn't given more to do, perhaps even some musings on the themes that run rampant through the piece, but go largely unexamined.

Burkholder is solid in an understated performance as Dr. Hall, and North manages a few moments as Ann Hathaway. However, most of the acting is unexceptional, certainly in part due to wayward direction. Period costuming by Karan Kaufman Feder is good, as are sets by Dan Webster.

Sets, Dan Webster; lighting, Joe Morrissey; costumes, Karan Kaufman Feder. Opened April 7, 1995; reviewed April 8; runs through May 21. Running time: 1 hr., 55 min.