For those not well-versed in 16th century writing, watching a play spoken in early modern English is a lot like staring at an optical illusion. With enough focus and determination, something intriguing reveals itself. In the case of Willing Suspension Production‘s performance of Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair, that something was hysterical, light-hearted, and a great way to get a lot of laughs.
At first, the play’s plot was a little difficult to follow, due to the difficulty in adjusting to 16th century English. Three men in khakis randomly passed around some woman for a kiss, and it eventually turned out that she was one of the three men’s wives. Soon, one of the play’s intertwining story lines takes shape when the woman, Mrs. Littlewit, and her husband, Mr. Littlewit, express their desire to go the Bartholomew Fair, a cesspool of sin and an affront to the devout values of Mrs. Littlewit’s mother and a fanatical Puritan named Zeal-of-the-Land Busy.
The couple then devises a plan to work around Zeal and the mother-in-law. Mrs. Littlewit “suddenly” comes down with a severe pregnancy-induced craving for pig. And the plan works.
As the ragtag group meanders across the fair grounds, they cross paths with wily cutpurses, a madman always demanding a warrant, a disguised judge, morally questionable puppets, and, most striking of all, Ursula the Pig Woman.
In this kooky comedy, there are a lot of bold characters infused with an extra large dose of personality. Ursula the Pig Woman, played excellently by Emily Gruber (PhD), came extra large and filled to the brim with personality. This ancestor of Miss Piggy shared her greatest moment during a verbal face off with one of Mr. Littlewit’s colleagues. From hurling insults such as “snotty-nose” to exclaiming “for your mother,” which may have be the oldest dated record of a “your mom” joke, Gruber’s performance simultaneously inspired awe, laughter, and a pining desire for bacon.
Other particularly standout performances were given by Benjamin DeTora (CAS ’10) and Charlotte Saul (CAS ’14) in the roles of the simple Bartholomew Cokes and his frustrated governess/slave, Mistress “Numps” Wasp. DeTora kept the audience in stitches through his tantrums, projectile-spitting of pear, and ability to modernize early modern English when talking about his “novelty Flintstone tie.” And he did all of this while rocking a pair of above-the-knee shorts.
Saul, often bound to DeTora’s side, held her own with her collection of vivid facial expressions and enthusiastic line delivery. Once her character finally snaps under the stress of her responsibility to Cokes, insanity takes over for the audience to revel in. Between kicking the daylights out of a court justice, growing increasingly bolder during a drunken stupor, and cleverly sneaking out of imprisonment, Saul made Numps an exciting character to look forward to.
Bartholomew Fair had its work cut out for it. It is difficult to present a play written in a foreign language– even if that foreign language is an archaic version of English. The audience may have spent the first act trying to comprehend the action, but once the play gave way to the fair and its exaggerated set, complete cast of characters, and strange situations, comprehension problems disappeared. The action was set in the 21st century at the Bartholomew Fair, and the familiar context made the material easy to understand. The John Deere toy stand and the gingerbread stand conjured up childhood memories of wanting to buy every knick-knack or piece of junk food in sight. The massive pig-shaped threshold, with its red carpet tongue, invited onlookers to be nostalgic of all memories involving fairs.
All that was missing was some carnival food for the audience. All that 16th-century talk of pig and gingerbread really invited the stomach to get nostalgic in itself.
Plays written with in such high-caliber language can be intimidating to people who do not want to look stupid while trying to understand what is going on. Fortunately, Willing Suspension Productions did an excellent job in making the experience one that everyone could enjoy. The modern setting coupled with the universal nature of strong comedic acting definitely leaves at least one new fan hungry for more. And for cotton candy.
Keep an eye on Willing Suspension Productions in the future; they only do one performance per year and, if their future plays are as good as this gem, they should be a definite addition to any theater-goers must-see list.
