In Pursuit of Cardenio

Published Tuesday 8 August 2006 at 14:30 by Gerald Berkowitz

The irrepressible serial enthusiast Ken Campbell turns all the force of his intellect and personality to the art of dramatic improvisation, leading a small company of actors in what amounts to a series of masterclasses meant to culminate at the end of this brief run in the group creation of the supposedly lost Shakespearean play Cardenio.

In practice, at least at an early performance, the group never gets near the play but go through a series of acting exercises such as practicing different levels of and styles of laughter and crying, or improvising speeches in what Campbell persists in calling “yambic pentameter”. An exploration of the four humours is completely inaccurate but still entertaining, while the challenges to create a sonnet and Elizabethan song on the spot play like excepts from a particularly ambitious improv comedy show.

It remains to be seen whether they succeed in creating Cardenio or even reach that stage in the process in the eight days of the run. Audiences along the way must be satisfied with the peep behind the curtain these training sessions and their charismatic leader provide.