"Equivocation" tops OSF season

"Equivocation" is unequivocally the absolute best play I have ever seen.

This world premier production, ably staged by OSF artistic director Bill Rauch, is in repertory now at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore. It will move to Seattle Rep after the OSF season ends in November. Don't miss it.

Playwright Bill Cain has created an incredible script, revolving around William Shagspeare and the King's Men of the Globe Theatre: "We're a cooperative venture."

In London, 1605, the bard and his band are trying their best to make a living while not dying -- neither onstage nor at the hand of His Royal Majesty's prime minister, Lord Robert Cecil. You see, the young King James I has written a play that Cecil commands Shag to "dialogue" and present to his majesty. Oh, yes, the play must also have witches--the King loves witches. This is a dangerous assignment, if either the King or Lord Cecil are displeased with the play, Shag and his fellow thespians will pay a heavy price.

Problem is, Shag's gift is for writing about history and the King's story is about current events, namely the failed Gunpowder Plot. And there are, ahem, problems with the King's story, not the least of which is the Gunpowder Plot is likely a convenient lie for which many of the "old religion" (Catholics) will die. It's the politics of the time and a truly precarious place for a playwright to take a stand.

Shag gets Lord Cecil's permission to visit two of the condemned in prison--young noble Thomas Wintour and Father Henry Garnet, a leading Jesuit--in order to get the play's story straight. As several scenes unfold, the audience learns two important lessons: what it is to be truly human and "How to speak the truth in difficult times," through the art of equivocation.

Superb actors Anthony Heald, Richard Elmore, Jonathan Haugen, John Tufts and Anthony Linington are at the core of this outstanding production. And as a corps, they illuminate more than 20 characters in a seamless array of scenes through absolutely stunning performances. Christine Albright's touching portrayal of Shag's daughter, Judith, deeply moved me: "I'm the same as my brother." Who in the audience did not weep at this moment?

Cain's scriptwriting is so perfect it's no surprise the audience laughs, weeps, wonders and is shaken to the core of their humanity by this play. Just as Cain, speaking through Shag, intends:

"I live for the day when an actor can walk on stage, stand stock still and have the audience applaud in sheer wonder that--in spite of plague, politics and the foolishness of this age--this thing has managed to stay alive."

As an actor, I couldn't wait to read the script after arriving back home. And so I understand how Cain's magnificent story lends itself to being so beautifully interpreted by director Bill Rauch and the OSF ensemble. "Equivocation" is a perfect piece of writing, just waiting for fine actors to breathe life into its many characters.

Word on the street in Ashland is that "Equivocation" will be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It can't help but win. It is, after all, the play of my lifetime.