How do you string together the most popular of Shakespeare's love scenes with coherence? What Colin David Reese and Yse d'Algrant do is improvise a story to contain them. A character like the actor-director he is, Reese reads Shakespeare in the native English of them both under a framed engraving of the Bard. A fire destroys some of the plays while others in French translation remain. (Eventually, most of the Shakespearean sequences are faithfully his, while the contemporary dialogue mixes English and French.) In a shadow entrance, his lover of 20 years earlier, now a famous actress, visits. They read and meet again as if freshly in a tableau from Romeo and Juliet.
Thus begins a series of meetings, scenes, and growing return to romance between the two. In between, the male's wonderings -- both about their love situation and how to bring the best of Shakespeare to a French audience along with English speakers -- gives him a chance to tackle soliloquys like Hamlet's most famous one. The actors are top notch in their Shakespearean roles, remarkable (in view of their ages) as the youthful Verona pair with their blushing and breathlessness. Yse d'Algrant's range is notable as she incorporates the situation of the contemporary actress into that of Kate the Shrew, yet easily turns into Lady Macbeth. Emotions vary, then, to accommodate those in the Shakespearean texts. So do the clever costumes as well as lighting and musical interludes that make up for the sparse technical facilities. Talent will out!
