EQUIVOCATION
by Bill Cain
directed by Paul Mullins
Bill Cain's Equivocation demonstrates the influence of the theater over the public and the power of authority over entertainment in the early 1600's.
Under pressure from the King, Shagspeare is commissioned to write a play about the Gunpowder Plot, a plan to blow up the court and the King. Since the plan is a current event and one without a real life ending, Shagspeare declined. Under the strong arm of Cecil, senior minister to the king, 'Shag' finally relents. The real ending is undefined since the real story has not yet unfolded adding to the pressure of the play's creation. If the performance ends with leveling of Parliament and the death of the king, the writer and actors feared that they would be hung. If it ended well, the story would not be interesting. This drummed up a lot of conflict between Shag and Cecil as well as Shag and his company but bought resolution to his relationship with his daughter, a surviving twin. The result is Macbeth, a powerful play with interlaced Gunpowder Plot references.
One of the newest plays to be presented by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Equivocation first premiered in 2009 in Oregon and, thereafter, gained momentum in cities like New York, Wellington, New Zealand and Vancouver. Six years later it seems to have the requisite qualities for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, giving a penetrative backdrop to the life of Shakespeare.
The cast, including James Michael Reilly, Dominic Comperatore, Matthew Stucky, Rob Krakovski, Kevin Isola and Therese Barbato, were outstanding performers in this 1906 London based story.
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