Know Theatre continues its second season under the artistic direction of Andrew Hungerford with more experimental and adventurous fare, producing new works and connecting with new collaborative partners. This time it’s CCM Drama from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, with faculty member Brant Russell staging Charise Castro Smith’s historical mash-up, The Hunchback of Seville, with mostly student actors.
It’s a chance for UC drama majors to spread their wings in a different venue and take advantage of a longer run that is usually afforded on CCM’s busy stages. But this very recent script — it premiered in Seattle in June 2014 — feels like an over-baked Saturday Night Live skit. It has its moments of humor, but they too often wander into passages that are obvious or obtuse.
Here’s the set-up: In a demented take on Spanish history, it’s 1504 and Columbus has returned from the New World with riches acquired by murdering innocent natives. Queen Isabella is dying. She hopes her adopted sister Maxima Terriblé Segunda, an agoraphobic, atheist, genius hunchback who’s locked away in an secluded royal apartment, will counsel the spoiled heir to the throne, Isabella’s willful daughter Juana. Maxima, enamored of a Moorish lover and appalled at Spain’s greedy aggression, has other ideas.
Know’s publicity calls the show “an irreverent comedy that skewers the horrors of colonialism with a rapier wit and a heavy dose of the ridiculous, en route to a Tarantino-esque climax.” If that sounds confusing and rather much — well, that’s because it is.
I’m not saying there aren’t amusing moments. Maxima (Colleen Ladrick) is genuinely perplexed by reports from the New World, often making anachronistic remarks in very contemporary language. Her devoted servant, Espanta (Alice Skok) constantly speaks directly and amusingly to the audience with dire warnings of things to come. The demented Juana (Emily Walton) jabbers on like a lunatic Kardashian. And the deteriorating health of Isabella (Rachel Baumgarten) is portrayed in a series of arrivals in a wheelchair, a motorized scooter and finally a hospital bed labeled “DEATHBED.” I wouldn’t use “rapier” to describe the show’s wit; a cudgel would be more accurate for many scenes that go on far too long.
The Hunchback of Seville lives somewhere between historical critique, zany Fringe show and over-extended comedy sketch. It’s not without humor, and the CCM cast works hard with the material. As it wraps up, Maxima tells us to “take what you will, from the Hunchback of Seville.” Perhaps a few drinks and a yen for a frantic tale onstage need to be ordered up. But be forewarned — this show is a wild ride to an inconclusive end.
THE HUNCHBACK OF SEVILLE , presented by Know Theatre of Cincinnati, continues through Oct. 24.
This article appears in Oct 7-13, 2015.
