The Midnight Train Crossing

Like all First Stage plays, all of the child roles were double cast. We saw the "Bard" cast.
This play was a lot funnier than I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Favorite characters were Robert Armin, the "master of the boys" (my title, it's just... that's what he seemed to be) played by Joe Foust, Sander - played by Joe Widen and Julian - played by Grace DeWolff.

I thought that the opening of the play was pretty spiffy. After the usual introduction by the mysterious voice over guy, one of the characters, who later turned out to be Robert Armin, entered the stage waving his sword about. He proceeded to, in Shakespearian English, give a Prologue - just like a real Shakespeare show. The gist of it was basically to pretend that the stage wasn't a stage at all, but England in the 1600's.

The main character, an orphan apprentice named Widge (Ted Warren), enters on stage, fumbling around in the dark for a few moments until his master, Timothy Bright (Patrick Lowlor) bursts in and starts yelling at him. It seems that Widge has learned a technique for taking shorthand and was trying to take notes so that his master could steal ideas. Widge got caught and Bright was angry.
This opening scene was a bit hard to follow. It took me a few minutes, and paying attention to Bright waving a pen and paper around for me to figure it out. They were speaking in... well not quite Shakespearean English, but similar. And they were supposed to be in Yorkshire. I thought that Widge sounded a bit Irish through the whole play, but I'm not an expert on the differences of the accents in that part of the world.
At any rate, this was the only part of the play that I had trouble understanding.

There was a rather funny bit here, when Bright was chasing Widge around with a stick, with the intent to beat him. They went around and around and around this table, and then had to stop to catch their breaths before continuing.

All in all, Widge was a pretty amusing character. He is a thief, but he's a very innocent thief. He also spent a good deal of time telling people that he didn't know what was going on, and that made him all the more amusing. After all, he is a country boy in a big city.
Ted Warren is 13 years old, but I didn't realize that until I looked up his name and saw that in his bio. He did an excellent job, especially considering he had to master doing a Yorkshire accent. As he said afterwards, it was all thanks to the dialect coach.

Anyway, back to the show. Enter the mysterious Falconer (Chris Fettle). After playing a slight trick on Widge, the Falconer purchases his apprenticeship and carts him off to meet his new master, a man by the name of Simon Bass (James Fletcher), who's head of a group of players.
Bass purchased Widge because of his shorthand. He tells Widge that he's going to send the boy to London where he is to write down a play - a new play being performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Player Company: Hamlet - Prince of Denmark.

Widge confides to the maid Libby (Laura Gray) that he's nervous about this. Not because he thinks it's wrong, for in his life as an orphan he thinks: "Whatever benefits you is right, whatever does you dare is wrong" No. He's afraid because a hare ran across his path the day before - apparently that's a bad omen.

As the stage was transformed to the Globe theatre, the audience got a taste of life in London in the 1600s, as various venders peddled their wares.
Some of the Players were advertising Hamlet, yelling out "A new tragedy by William Shakespeare!" "Blood and gore!" And my personal favorite: "Everybody dies!"
Meanwhile, there was a woman selling bread, and one selling brooms (I think) and a guy selling rats, weasels and stoats: "Good eating!"
I loved it :)

The Falconer (a shady character if I ever saw one) takes Widge to the theatre and hides him somewhere. He did threaten Widge a bit, warning what would happen if Widge failed, but, well to me that part seemed a little over the top. I can't even say why, but it was intended to be a serious moment and all I could think was that it looked a bit silly.

Widge hides where he is told to, and then, the play begins. In the center of the real stage was another stage, the stage of the Globe Theatre.
Two people came out and launched into the first scene of Hamlet.

Now, I have read Hamlet three times, and am a big big fan of the Reduced Shakespeare Company so I recognized the "real" Shakespeare straight off. They flashed through several bits of Hamlet, doing quite a bit of the important parts.
They opened with the scene with the guards on the battlements of Elsinore castle, and then did the "What a piece of work is man" speech (The one bit of Hamlet that the RSC play straight!) And then the bit with the skull, "Alas, poor Yorik"

Hamlet was played by Robert Armin, who was played by Joe Foust. This wasn't a serious Shakespeare show, but I really liked how he played Hamlet, especially when he did his big dramatic "what a piece of work is man" speech. So I haven't actually seen Hamlet, just the movie of it with Kenneth Branaugh, and of course the RSC version. I rather liked the way Joe Foust delivered it.
I looked up a bit about him and he has done Shakespeare plays. Actually he's worked with the Milwaukee Shakespeare Company, but he hasn't been in any of the ones I've seen.

Throughout all of this, Widge is frantically taking notes, until he is interrupted by one of the other Players, who is currently playing Polonious. The Player is torn between catching Widge and not missing his cue, but as a player at heart, he darts off on stage.

An explosion from a cannon sets the thatch roof on fire and in the confusion, Widge loses his notebook. When he goes back to try and find it, he's caught by Armin. Widge quickly weaves a tale about how he's run away from his master and wants to join the Players.
After a bit of discussion, and some encouragement by the Bard (played by Tom Reed), Widge is apprenticed into the company. A player named Thomas Pope (Patrick Lawlor) takes him in, where Widge quickly becomes friends with Pope's other apprentice, Sander (Joe Widen).

It actually took me awhile to figure out which of the characters was supposed to be Shakespeare. I thought that the Player playing Hamlet would have been Shakespeare, but that turned out to be Armin. I didn't really figure out who was supposed to be Shakespeare until quite a bit later.

I thought Sander was very awesome. He was one of my favorite characters, maybe because of the great job that Joe Widen did. Sander teaches Widge all about the theatre, including the fact that girls cannot be actors. The Ophelia is played by another apprentice, Julian (Grace DeWolff).
Sander explains that the apprentices do the female parts - "Until our voices change, that is"

Sander understudies the part of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, so that leads to an amusing scene when Sander is trying to memorize his lines. Widge is helping by reading the other parts.
After a bit, Sander gets frustrated and tells Widge to try and put a little more emotion into it. So Widge puts... a lot more emotion into it.
He hams it up beautifully, making the scene between Hamlet and his mother very funny.

Sander also tries to teach Widge how to "fight" (Stage fighting that is), but after becoming frustrated, he finally declares to Widge: "You stink!"
Widge replies, offended, "I just took a bath three days go!"

Julian, played by Grace DeWolff was another of my favorite characters. He and Widge get off on the wrong foot during a sparing practice when Widge accidentally insults him. When Widge finally gets a small part in a play, he is terrified, especially because he is supposed to say an unpronounceable (to him) name. Amusingly, everyone else can pronounce it, and they all do it very dramatically. Sander tries to help, but it is Julian ultimately who helps him out.

The final of the named apprentices is an older boy, nearing the end of his apprenticeship, named Nick. Since he is at the end of his apprenticeship, that means that he is ready to take on his first "male role". Nick is mean-spirited and bitter, and brilliantly played by John Gleason Teske. One of the first things Nick does is insult Widge and get into a fight.

Julian also is Widge's partner during another fencing practice. The apprentices, under the watchful eye of Armin, are to practice dying. They all wear metal plates where they are to strike each other. Julian dies so convincingly the first time, that Widge is afraid that he hurt him. But, since turnabout is fair play, Widge pulls the same trick on Julian.

When Armin turns his attention to another pair, Julian and Widge start chatting about themselves and their families. Widge explains how he got such an unusual name. His name is actually a running joke through the whole show. He got his name from the mistress of the orphanage where he grew up.
This discussion between the two of them is interrupted as Nick "dies" in a more and more exaggerated fashion.

Nick does not come into work one day, and so Sander dons Gertrude's dress and goes on. Shakespeare hands Widge the precious book of Hamlet - the only full script - and has Widge sit there doing the prompting.
Widge asks Shakespeare something to the effect of "but won't you need the book?"
To which he replies, "I wrote it."
This was the point in the show when I figured out which character was actually William Shakespeare.
Again, I don't think that they made that very clear. Armin was really more of a role model to Widge, because he spent more time with him.

Thomas Pope, Widge's "Master" at the theatre is really closer to a father figure than a "master" but he still wasn't around Widge quite as much as Armin was. Thomas Pope (Played by Patrick Lawlor) was pretty entertaining both as Polonious and as "himself". On more than one occasion he got into a teasing match with Armin. My favorite was:
Pope: I remember when I first stepped out onto the boards when I was a ‘prentice
Armin: I did not know that they had boards when you were that young

Things definitely seem to be going well for Widge. He's loving his life at the theatre, and after his first role, he definitely has a taste for being a player.
But then, the ominous Falconer shows up again to threaten him. He orders Widge to steal the book and bring it to him. Or else.

Widge sees Shakespeare lock up the book and leave, but he decides not to steal it. Rather than go outside and face Falconer, he stays in the theatre for the night. Or for the intermission, depending on how you look at it.

The next day at practice, Nick gives the bad news. He was fired from his "male role" (they said what it was, and what play it was in, but I can't remember now). Nick believes this is highly unfair, but I imagine it had something to do with him showing up at the theatre drunk, and spending all of his time gambling. Not to mention missing rehearsals and getting into fights.

I felt very proud of myself for figuring something out. As I said, when Widge found out that Julian (a boy) played Ophelia, he was rather surprised to learn that girls weren't allowed on stage. Later on, when he and Sander are talking about their stint in the changing room, Widge mentioned that Julian never wanted anyone to help him change costume. Sander blows it off, saying that Shakespeare doesn't like any help either.
I, on the other hand was not inclined to let this go. Originally I hadn't thought much of a girl playing Julian, after all, I've seen it done before, but now I was beginning to think that there was a reason for that.
Sure enough, at the next practice, Nick wounds Julian.
Armin rushes over to Julian and makes a fateful discovery. Julian is actually Julia.

At this point I had an extremely nit-picky thought. With where Julian was injured, I wondered just what it was possible for Armin to have seen to realize that she was a girl. The wound was on the side, but it didn't seem to be high enough (or low enough) for him to see any gender distinguishing features. Okay, so I thought about this for all of five minutes in the car, but y'know :) That's just me

To make matters worse, the Company finds out that Queen Elizabeth is going to come see a performance of Hamlet and they are short one Ophelia.
William Shakespeare decides, (after talking to Julia (which I thought was nice of him)) that Widge would make a good Ophelia.
And, with the coaching of Julia (Who was surprisingly alright with him taking on the role), both Widge and Sander rock in their roles.

I gotta give a whole lot of credit to Ted Warren and Joe Widen (Widge and Sander) for being willing to run around stage in dresses... really big poofy dresses at that.

Queen Elizabeth, looking like she just stepped out of a portrait (Well done costume department!) Was amusingly played by Laura Gray. She had the perfect manner down. She obviously didn't approve of Widge's name though. That's what starts him thinking that he wants a proper name.

But it's still not happily ever after. Nick is rather bitter about being fired and so, when Falconer offers to hire him to steal the book of Hamlet, he jumps at the chance. I think he'd do it for free considering how angry he is at the Company.

Luckily, just as Nick is about to run off with the book, Widge, coming upstairs to fetch another practice sword for practice, catches him. The two fight and Widge gets stabbed.
Sander rushes to his friend's side to examine him, and the promptly baps Widge. For Widge was wearing his metal plate. The blood that seeped all over his clothing was the ‘special effects' blood that the Players used.
Armin turns up at just the right time and the three of them chase Nick.
But they are too late, Nick has already handed his prize over, collected his money and split.

Armin draws his sword and gets into a fight with the Falconer (for the second time). The script gets tossed to the side, and Widge saves it.
But Armin seems to have his own agenda when it comes to the Falconer. For earlier in the play, after saying that the Falconer looked very familiar, the two got into a fight over an insult (Armin lost). Now, it's a duel to the death, and Armin comes out victorious. (He kinda has to really, considering that he's the good guy and the Falconer is the bad guy...)
Dying, the Falconer reveals himself to be.... Simon Bass, the man that hired Widge to steal the show.
His final words are that by stealing from Shakespeare, at least he showed good taste.

There are a lot of fight scenes in this play, and they were all carefully choreographed by a fight coach. However, during the talk-back I learned that not only were all of the male adults certified by the union as "Fighters" but they were all fight coaches for one show or another.
Joe Foust was answering this question, and he reported this information. Apparently that made the show a lot of fun to stage.

The final scene takes place sometime later. Julia returns, "disguised" as a serving maid. She has been saving her wages to take a boat to France, where women are allowed to be players.
It's a somewhat emotional farewell. Widge wasn't used to having friends, and now he loses one of his best ones.

Still, Widge is pretty happy now. He has friends, a family, and a home.