Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Red Bull’s giddy romp ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM leans in on the noirish and gratuitously violent aspects of the tale

• By drediman
• March 21, 2023
• No Comments

Last night, I caught up with Red Bull Theater’s Off-Broadway staging of the rarely performed “domestic tragedy” Arden of Faversham. An anonymously-written play penned somewhere around 1588 — Shakespeare is thought to have perhaps lent his talents to the work — the work tells the allegedly true tale of the bloody endeavors of Alice and Mosby, a pair of adulterous lovers who plot the murder of the titular Arden of Faversham, Alice’s trusting, landed husband.

Even if the play doesn’t have the humanistic and poetic depths of even Shakespeare’s lesser dramatic efforts, Arden of Faversham is nonetheless exuberantly plotted and entertaining in its own pulpy way, especially as adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kathryn Walat. Indeed, existing somewhere between Macbeth and giddy melodrama, the play is most potent in its investigation of class and lust, those age-old motivations behind many a crime. Overall, the adaptation nicely strikes just an ideal note between its influences.

Red Bull’s production describes itself as a “true crime thriller”, which isn’t a far stretch. Director Jesse Berger has leaned in on the noirish and gratuitously violent aspects of the story, resulting in a fast-paced romp. The physical production is top-notch (scenery by Christopher and Justin Swader; costumes by Mika Eubanks), as is the over-the-top performances by the game cast, many of whom will be familiar to fans of New York’s vibrant theater scene.

RECOMMENDED

ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM
Off-Broadway, Play
Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre
1 hour, 45 minutes (including one intermission)
Through April 1