Theatre review: Shakespeare's Dog at the NAC in Ottawa

This World Premiere production of SHAKESPEARE'S DOG, adapted by Rick Chafe from Leon Rooke's prize-winning 1981 novel, provides an entertainingly ribald look at the age and influence which shaped young Shakespeare.  His dog Hooker is more perceptive than most of what he calls "the two-foots" and sees that his master's talents lie not in acting but in writing.

While trying to get Will to realize this, Hooker also has to deal with a sort of Elizabethan game warden called a Regarder who's after him for poaching.  In those hard times the cruel penalty fell not only on the dog but also his master.  The script is liberally sprinkled with slightly fractured quotes, and Act II ends with a hilarious first draft version of HAMLET mixed up with bits of ROMEO AND JULIET.

Brian Perchaluk is right on the money with the Elizabethan sets and costumes.  The different shades of wood and the varying angles suggest half-timbering and the tree is terrific.  He's dressed both the humans and dogs in Elizabethan clothes with one difference - the dogs have tails.  The Regarder's capelet made of small animal pelts adds to the character's sinister aspect.  Scott Henderson's lighting and John Bent Jr.'s sound both add to the proceedings.

There's not a single weak link in this cast.  The two female dogs, Marina Stephenson Kerr as Hooker's sister Terry and Ardith Boxall as the perpetually randy Marr bounce and wriggle their way through the play with inexhaustible doggy enthusiasm.  Greg Kramer does a nice turn as the old dog Onion in a subtly touching scene with Hooker, while Toby Hughes is appealingly athletic as Wolf, Hooker's rival.

The two-foot characters are not to be outdone.  Helen Taylor gives an earthy and nicely modulated performance as Anne Hathaway, who's referred to as a "mattress thumper".  As Sir Richard Doyle, Will's possible ticket to London, Barry MacGregor manages to be both self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating while displaying impeccable comic timing.

Harry Judge makes an excellent Will.  Only a good actor can believably play a bad actor, which Mr. Judge does with seemingly boundless energy.  He also shows us the beginnings of the wordsmith.  As Hooker, the lynch pin of the play, Arne MacPherson is simply terrific.  He's just doggy enough to remind us that, although he often seems wiser than the two-foots, he is in the end SHAKESPEARE'S DOG.

Director Larry Desrochers has done a great job of staging the play.  His decision to play the dogs primarily upright works very well.  With their dog body language their characters are very clear.  The human characters are also well developed, so that what could have been a two-dimensional romp is a fully realized piece of theatre.

SHAKESPEARE'S DOG is a terrific evening of entertainment.  A warning though - it's not for children.  When you portray Elizabethan language and behavior, not to mention realistic dog behavior, you don't come up with "cute".  The words I would use are rollicking, intelligent and bawdy. That said, this production provides a delightful evening of theatre.

On a scale of one to five the NAC/Manitoba Theatre Centre co-production of SHAKESPEARE'S DOG gets five Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  For North Country Public Radio I'm Connie Meng.