Hamlet is such a murky, obstinate text that so refuses definitive interpretation that a point is sometimes made that Shakespeare probably created a play greater than himself. If we could bring the Bard back to life somehow, he would shed no more light on the play than the thousands of poor fools who have been taken in by the tragedy since. And this is where the fun and light Time Out of Joint places us, back into the life of (drunk) William Shakespeare (Peter Ormond) and his tortured life. He is as confounded by the play as any bewildered A level student. I mean tortured, in the way some artists describe their existence one suffused with booze, women and dreamy art. His particular problem is that he cannot solve the connection between Hamlet and Ophelia, which he believes to be the key to the work.The tension holding the farce together is that Lord Hunsdon (his patron) will produce Marlowe's play if Will doesn't get Hamlet finished by the morning. While vexing over his situation, Will is visited by two of his darlings, the French vixen Isabelle (Maresa Schick), and the love from his youth, sweet Katherine (Clare Wallis). Put these two women in the one room and you have a classic catfight putting Will farther from his goal.The title of the play comes from the line Hamlet utters to Horatio relating the visit by his father's ghost naming Claudius as the murderer. The Time is out of joint; O cursed spite!/ That ever I was born to set it right. But what exactly is out of joint?This is a play of two steps back, one step forward. The forward is the game and energetic Mr. Ormond who gives us a Jack the lad Shakespeare that I like a lot better than the mysterious bores presented to date. Will is just a regular talented writer with all the usual problems you'd love to have. The back is that this is a one-act play that lasts 90 minutes. This gives us long, pointless scenes that doesn't add to the excitement of conflict between Will, Hamlet, his past, and his current gal. This strains the role of Isabelle where her accent becomes too grating too soon. However, Ms. Wallis is alert and attentive, an intelligent actor who makes a better foil for Will than the French lover. The direction and writing steers the play away from what could be an hilarious romp into tiredness territory. Still, you have to admire the playwright Frank Bramwell for taking a stab at a very particular notion in the play of Hamlet and making the Bard continuously drunk for most of the play. But the play does fulfills its ambition with the wisdom of action. Shakespeare's intellect cannot fix the characters, Shakespeare's heart cannot fix it. Instead he must get up and engage in the (very) vivid life around him. And he will, once he sobers up.
