Review: 1991's 'I Hate Hamlet' still amuses

The relationship between Los Angeles television and New York theater has changed since Paul Rudnick wrote I Hate Hamlet in 1991. Gone are the days when Rudnick's jokes about Shakespeare as a retreat for washed-up TV and movie actors - "some English guy who can't get a series" - were accurate.

However, Montgomery Theater's zany production proves that the current success and quality of cable TV have not made a dent in the hilarity of Rudnick's bizarre plot.

In New York, famous young TV actor Andrew Rally (Jon Mulhearn) debates the wisdom of taking the role of Hamlet in a new production in Central Park after the network cancels the ER-style medical drama in which he starred.

Andrew's agent Lillian (Cynthia Raff) and virginal girlfriend Deirdre (Abigail Grace Allwein) push him toward the part, while his real estate agent Felicia (Jessica Bedford) just wants to push him into the onetime home of legendary actor John Barrymore.

The real battle for Andrew's creative soul begins when Barrymore's ghost (Leonard C. Haas) appears to offer him glory, while Andrew's old producer Gary (Aaron Kirkpatrick) arrives with an offer for a lucrative new television pilot.

Director Tom Quinn's production jumps right into Rudnick's quirky humor, and the cast follows Quinn with aplomb (within the first 10 minutes, Bedford's character thinks nothing of staging a séance in the apartment she's trying to rent). While Mulhearn initially annoys with his whiny self-doubts about playing the Bard's most complex character, his earnest and vigorous word- and swordplay with Haas enliven the drama and comedy.

Haas' deadpan approach to the play's goofy humor scores consistent laughs, while Bedford and Allwein deliver laugh-worthy exaggerations - Bedford is particularly droll in embracing the stereotype of a Long Island-accented real estate shark - enhanced by the outrageous outfits that Angela Hoerner has dreamed up for each.

Time has passed, but the battle between quality and profit still rings true in Kirkpatrick's performance. He dominates with his boisterously funny riff on Hollywood producers focused on dollars over ratings over talent over art. But it's a little harder now than it was in 1991 to argue that the small screen lacks the aesthetic quality of the stage.

There are a few other dated references (Tonya Harding, for example, and the idea of a TV actor holding on to his virginity) that invite shakes of the head, but on the whole, Montgomery's I Hate Hamlet provides an evening full of gusto and laughter.

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I Hate Hamlet Through July 12 at Montgomery Theater, 124 Main Street, Souderton

Tickets: $25 to $32 Information: 215-723-9984 or montgomerytheater.org

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