Fabulous festival fare @ I Hate Hamlet. Deep Cove Shaw Theatre to May 2 @ The Comedy of Errors. Presentation House Arts Centre to May 2. I don’t envy Robert Metcalfe his job. He will be the one charged with picking the overall Best Production at the North Shore Zone of Theatre B.C.'s Festival of Plays next ult job, I predict. Theatre B.C. is the umbrella organization for the community theatre groups across the province. Besides routine organizational and administrative support for amateur theatre in general, its Backstage workshops and zone festivals are the highlight of the year for many community theatre companies. For close to years the North Shore Zone has been considered to be one of the strongest zones in the province. At least two of this vear's plays show v Someone Who'll Watch Over Me from North Vancouver Community Players was reviewed in this space last week. It’s a very good production of a difficult and complex play. . This week Curtain Call checked out the entries from Deep Cove Stage and Presentation House Productions. Both shows run until May 2 in their respective theatres, or you can try for tickets to the festival next week Out in Deep Cove’s Shaw Theatre you find a virtually perfect production of a disabilities and serious illnesses. McDonald's Restaurants will donate 1 dollar from every ba Martin Millerchip. light weight, bur unusu- al, comedy, and at Presentation House there isa fast paced ver- on of William akespeare’s The Conway of Errars trom a predominandly voung cast. Nor knowing Paul Rudhnick’s J Hate Hauler going in, | had thought it might be interesting to compare a comedy abour Shakespeare with a Shakespearean comedy. Unfortunately, such ao mparison would be meaningle 1 Hate Haanter has less to do with Ss peare than acting style and stage fright. The closest we get to Shakespeare is the ghost of American actor John Barrymore, renowned for his era’s florid version of the Danish tragedy. The plot concerns the angst faced by an up-but-still-coming television actor in New Yorkas he consides che prospect of playing Hamlet at a Shakespeare-in-the Park sum- mer festival. Andrew Rally is not yet committed to the idea but is nevertheless viewing apartments with his 29-year-old virgin girl friend Deidre when we meet them, The apartment in question was once inhabited by Barrymore, and I give nothing away by revealing it still is. The wacky realtor who is showing the place is capable of reaching “the other side” and Deidre can’t wait to go back in time and tell Barrymore about Andrew’s impend- ing date with the most challenging role in theatre. Even Andrew's agent, Lillian, knows ¢ apartment, having had a dalliance herself with the master of stage, screen and boudoir. Deep Cove Stage has obviously assem- bled an “A-team” for this vear’s festival entry. There’s not a wrong note anywhere. Darien Edgeler provides a warm and nat- ural centre for the wackier events that threaten to overwhelm Andrew's life. In fact, and I hope Edgeler won't hate this comparison, he reminded me many times of a young Michael J. Fox. Yes, I know Edgeler is taller, but he has the same light touch as Fox: the ability to make the audience care about his character’s NEWS photo Brad a Leawidge VINCE Callaghan, Shelley Adam and Darien Edgeler, left to right, are just part of an excellent cast in Deep Cove Stage's pro- duction of {Hate Hamlet which has two more performances ¢ at the Shaw Theatre and runs Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the festival. Help us help kids! Join us on Wednesday, May 6th, and you can make a big difference to children with Big Mac® and 15 cents from every McFlurry™ to Ronald McDonaid Children’s Charities ahd local kids’ charities, including Lions Gate Hospital, * 1119 Marine Drive » 1057 Lonsdale Avenve © Wal-Mart in Capilane Mall North Shore locations: * {100 Lynn Valley Road + (57 Chadwick Court- * (600 ~ 2601 Westview Drive + 1455 Marine Drive (West Vancouver) “IT just rose NEWS photo Cindy Goodman PAULA Antiil, Damon Calderwood, Geoff Adams and Andrew Staniland, left to right, have fun in Shakespeare's comedy of confused identity, The Comedy of Errors, by Presentation House Productions troubles in the narrow realm between light comedy and mild drama. His comic timing is perfect — “We're not having a seance,” says Andrew in his once-and-for-all voi he upstairs door suddenly slams ard he adds without missing a beat, “Do we need candles?” — and he manages to find the truth in whar littie dra- matic core this script offers: the tear of the role and the courage to make his own choice. Edo not mean to slight any other mem- ber of this wonderful cast. Tammy Pentecost is perfect as the slighty kooky, gum-chewing realcor; Shelley Adam finds the romantic silliness of Deidre’s love of unicorns and Laura Ashley prints without tipping over into caricatures Jackie Bowyer’s dignitied presence as Lillian helps establish the past from which the ever-youthful Barrymore springs; and Grahame Andrews’ exuberance as a Hollywood dealmaker with no compre- hension of art is joyously ignorant. Vince Callaghan has the uacnviable task of filling Barrymore’s tights. It’s often hard to live up to advance billing, or foreshadow- ing, of the sort that Rudnick provides, but Callaghan does it easily without trsorting to stufling. His Barrymore has a slightly sardonic air that kept me chuckling along with fines like from the dead and how was your morning,” bur also embraces magni icently the flamboyance and ego of the character. The quality Deep Cove has put on stage “* doesn’t stop with the actors. Ann Booth and Jenn Ashton achieve a sense of Barrymore's majestic apartment by emphasizing height and doing a few things really well — always a smart choice with a festival entry that could perform on as many as three stages. Special effects are appropri- ate, but Sean Kelly deserves special mention for his excellent sounderac IfT really wanted to be picky, | could suggest that the first act might go faster, that Bowyer lose her intermittent accent and the otherwise excellently choreographed fight cut out the repetitive clements. Other than chat, director Barry Duffs is to be congratulated on pretty close to a per- fect production of, let’s face it, a somewhat slight script. - How will Metcalfe compare it co a very good production of a more challenging piece of writing? Check out the festival.