Created by Lexi Wolfe
Produced by Slade Wolfe Enterprises Limited | Dover, UK
Review by Barb Popel
60 mins / PG / Drama, Solo, Historical, Storytelling
Is it just me, or is there more Shakespeare at this Fringe than in past years? Not that I’m complaining – each company mining the Bard has come up with different treasures. For instance, After Shakespeare answers the question, “What happened to this character after the play ended?”
Lexi Wolfe appears on stage before the play starts as a darkly hooded forbidding figure seated on a chair, a flagon nearby. The lights come up and “he” introduces himself as a common English soldier. He mentions that this disreputable tavern used to be frequented by Prince Hal. He doesn’t name himself but assures his listener that he isn’t King Henry, who would never come to such a tavern.
He then relates three battles he has fought in. The first – the Battle of Shrewsbury – was when he was 16 years old and fighting next to his father. He nearly died of a horrific wound there. The other two – the Battle of Agincourt and a merciless siege of a French city – were won by the English but were not the noble triumphs they’ve been portrayed. He leaves the tavern, asserting that he’s not King Henry V.
Lexi Wolfe in After Shakespeare. Photo provided.
In the remaining three vignettes it’s clearer right from the start who the Shakespearean character is.
There’s Hamlet in a sort of purgatory after his death, bemoaning all the ills that befell those close to him because of his procrastination – how he did nothing with the knowledge he possessed.
The next is Portia from The Merchant of Venice, now happily married to Bassanio but chafing at the restrictions placed on her as a woman and yearning for the freedoms of movement, association and learning automatically granted to men. You may remember that Portia disguised herself as “Balthazar” the lawyer so she could plea for the life of Bassanio.
The final is Lady Macbeth (Lexi Wolfe effects a terrific Scottish accent). She too seems to be in the netherworld. She relates the story of her first husband – the husband she had before Macbeth – and this explains her cold-blooded ferocity in The Scottish Play.
The scene/costume changes between these four vignettes were a little rough, and Wolfe failed to project her voice sufficiently (though the ODD Box theatre is relatively small). But these are minor faults. She received an enthusiastic reaction from most of the audience.
After Shakespeare is playing at ODD Box from June 13–21. Tickets are $14 plus service fees at the Fringe box office (3rd floor, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue), and at the three satellite box offices (LabO in the Ottawa Art Gallery, Fringe Courtyard, 67 Nicholas St and La Nouvelle Scène). Five and ten Show Passes are also available. Visit the Ottawa Fringe Festival’s website for the show’s schedule and check out their online schedule here.
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