To play Hamlet or not to play Hamlet? That’s the question hanging over television star Andrew Rally (Ben Abbott), who’s moved to New York to “take a class or two” after his TV series L.A. Med is canceled. At his agent Lillian’s (Patty Thayer) urging, he tries out for a Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet, and surprisingly gets the role. Is he up for it?
His chaste girlfriend Deirdre (Madison Shaheen) thinks it was meant to be, especially after his real estate agent, Felicia (Dori Duke), secures him a Greenwich Village apartment formerly occupied by John Barrymore (Billy Breed), one of the all-time greatest actors to play Hamlet—who shows up in ghost form to “inspire” Andrew. Andrew’s stressful situation worsens when an old Hollywood friend, Gary (Jeremy Helgeson), arrives with an offer of another TV series and a fat paycheck.
Written by Paul Rudnick while he was occupying Barrymore’s NYC apartment, the play premiered on April 8, 1991, in Walter Kerr Theatre. SLO REP’s new production, directed by R. Michael Gros, is set in the ’70s and is delightfully funny and deeply entertaining.
“It’s a love story for theater people, and particularly for actors,” Gros explained. “To find both an homage to the profession that I love and those who make it their life, and to laugh—because, goodness knows, we all need some laughs right now—has been joyous.”
One of the play’s themes examines the difference between stage and TV acting.
“Andrew is a television actor, and there are some delightful lines about what qualities are required of a television actor,” Gros noted. “At one point he says, ‘Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t show up to work one day and they just put my poster in, would they even notice that I’ve gone.'”
Breed as Barrymore has his work cut out for him. After all, he’s playing a larger-than-life character.
“I’m not trying to do a direct impression, but there are some elements I’ve taken from the historical Barrymore,” Breed explained. “The way he spoke—it’s called a transatlantic accent—actors were trained in this during this period. To many ears, it sounds almost British, but it’s not. A good example is Katharine Hepburn. I’m going softly into that because that’s how he spoke.
“Physicality—John Barrymore was known, as was the taste of the day onstage, for very grand gestures,” Breed continued. “If you can find films of what stage acting was, particularly in classical pieces, it would look very big by our standards.”
In juxtaposition is Abbott’s turn as Andrew. He has to play the character more naturalistically. He’s a man riddled with self-doubt.
“It’s about a TV actor who, especially back when this was written, [was] much less respected,” Abbott explained. “There’s this dichotomy between this TV actor and [Barrymore], this ‘real’ actor.”
Andrew’s life is further complicated by his relationship with pollyannaish Deirdre, and he’s endlessly frustrated by her unwillingness to have sex. Her love of Shakespeare puts extra pressure on him.
“She wants him to be this great Shakespearean actor that he doesn’t think he could be, or maybe that he knows he can’t be,” Abbott said. “She’s not impressed by his TV stardom. That’s uninteresting to her. She’s holding him to a standard that no one else did.”
Breed and Abbott have shared the stage before going back to 2007, mostly at the Great American Melodrama, and they’re clearly comfortable with each other’s stage rhythms and styles. Their acerbic exchanges are witty and rapid-fire. Some of the tension between Barrymore and Andrew is that Andrew sees him as a relic, but Barrymore defends his older classical style.
“It’s a comedy, but we also have some of the heaviest dramatic interactions that I’ve had in a long time,” Abbott revealed. “They really get after each other. They reflect each other’s insecurities and weaknesses. Everything Andrew hates about himself, Barrymore drives right into him, but he can also throw it back at Barrymore because Barrymore had a life that was difficult, problematic, and filled with shame.”
Battle they do, right down to a sword fight.
Andrew and Barrymore are the main characters, but the skillfully written script gives all six performers time in the spotlight. It turns out that Andrew’s agent, Lillian, a German with a mysterious past, had a tryst with Barrymore in this very apartment decades earlier. Lillian’s one of the characters who can see Barrymore, and the pair have a tender and wry moment of remembrance. Thayer is terrific, playing Lillian with sly humor.
Meanwhile, Andrew’s Hollywood pal, Gary, is a smarmy, moneygrubbing near caricature played with astounding energy by Helgeson, who’s an absolute hoot. His character can see Barrymore, but he’s too much of a dilettante to understand his importance. Meanwhile, Duke, as real estate agent Felicia, brings some real Real Housewives of New Jersey brash East Coast vibes to her role. Felicia can’t see Barrymore even though she thinks she’s a medium and holds a séance.
Shaheen also shines as wholesome Deirdre, who deeply loves Andrew and believes he can be more than a TV actor. Deirdre’s naivete is charming as heck, and Shaheen and Abbott have real chemistry.
“It’s a wonderful cast we’re working with, and each character as written and as played is delicious and well-wrought,” Breed noted. “It’s a small cast piece, but everyone has their moment.”
“There’s no character you wouldn’t want to play,” Abbott added. “Every character is different, and every character is juicy.”
“It has farce, it has laughter, it has sword fights, it has just a smidgen of Shakespeare,” Gros explained. “It’s not a Shakespeare play, so for those who … don’t want to go see Shakespeare, no, it’s not that at all. There are several romances in the play, both young and old. It really is a joyous celebration of theater and of life in general.”
The ending will both surprise and gratify.
“It’s not where you thought [Andrew] was going to go, and it’s not where he wanted to go, but it’s where he needed to go,” Abbott said, “and he ends up in a more satisfying place than he imagined for himself.” Δ
Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 8-18, 2025.