Gaslight Dinner Theatre presents I Hate Hamlet March 28-May 2

Release Date: 3/18/2003. Expired: 5/2/2003

I Hate Hamlet is a hilarious farce that deals with the “fear and loathing” anyone can experience when facing a new job or some daunting task. In this popular play in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre at The Renaissance Center, these fears are alive and well inside actor Andrew Rally.

When his “young doctor” television drama is canceled, Andrew goes back to New York where his agent gets him a part playing Hamlet in Shakespeare in the Park and his real estate agent finds him the perfect apartment - the former residence of acting legend John Barrymore. But Andrew’s life is not at all a picnic in Paul Rudnick’s fast-paced comedy I Hate Hamlet, presented in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre Fridays March 28-May 2.

Andrew still has problems. He hates Hamlet. Real theater is hard compared to his television work. Shakespeare is impossible. Andrew is terrified at the thought of getting up on stage in a daunting role and falling flat on his face. “Everyone’s supposed to dream of playing Hamlet,” Andrew laments, wondering why the idea leaves him shaking. Andrew gets help from an unlikely source - the ghost of Barrymore, who returns to coach the young actor on becoming part of the “proud tradition.”

Rudnick is best known for writing the 1997 movie In and Out starring Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack and Tom Selleck. He also was a writer on the sequel Addams Family Values and wrote the 2000 film Isn’t She Great, which starred Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. His movie Marci X starring Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans is due out this fall. Rudnick’s other theatre credits include The Naked Eye, Jeffrey and Cosmetic Surgery.

I Hate Hamlet is directed by Hal Partlow, managing director of the Renaissance Repertory Theatre Company.

“This play is so full of characters and great comedy that the laughs come from beginning to end,” said Partlow. “It takes a lot of the insecurities that we suffer as actors and turns them into a hilarious story that anyone can relate to. It’s all about dealing with the anxieties and self-doubts that almost everyone experiences in their careers.”

Lincoln County native Alex Syler portrays Andrew Rally, former star of LA Medical. An Austin Peay State University graduate, Syler is in his first season with the Renaissance Repertory Company and appeared in Sylvia and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas.

Matt Bridges plays the ghost of John Barrymore. Now in his second season with the Rep Co., Bridges most recently appeared in Love Letters as well as Sylvia and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas.

Alix McEachern Jones fills the part of Dierdre, Andrew’s girlfriend. The Florida native and graduate of Florida State is in her fourth season with the Rep Co. and her dinner theatre appearances include Sylvia, Nunsense, The Star-Spangled Girl and Barbeque for 2.

Amy Arrington plays Lillian, Andrew’s immigrant agent who reveals she once had a fling with Barrymore. A three-season veteran of the Rep Co., the Robertson County native has appeared in I Do! I Do!, Nunsense, The Boys Next Door, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Last of the Red-Hot Lovers, Sylvia and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas.

Krys Collins is Felicia, the realtor who finds the apartment for Andrew then uses her psychic powers to reach out to Barrymore in a sèance. The Kentucky native and 15-year theatre veteran is in her first season with the Rep Co. and has appeared in Love Letters and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas in the dinner theatre.

Pacer Harp returns to the Gaslight stage as Gary Peter Leftkowitz, the fast-talking writer/director/producer who tries to talk Andrew into returning to California. Harp has directed numerous dinner and community theatre productions at The Renaissance Center and appeared in Barbeque for 2, Christmas Seasonings and Christmas Seasonings II, The Boys Next Door, The Star-Spangled Girl and Forever Plaid.

“Paul Rudnick’s comedy is about the fear and loathing of actors toward a role that is as ritualistically daunting as a climb up Mount Everest,” said Harp, managing director of the Gaslight Dinner Theatre. “Andrew’s insecurity over playing such a dramatic role as Hamlet is made worse by his continuing frustration over his relationship with his girlfriend. When the ghost of the great John Barrymore shows up to advise Andrew, it brings on the laughs.”

Tickets for I Hate Hamlet are $25 per person. Reservations can be made by calling (615)740-5570. A buffet dinner is served at 6:30 p.m. with the show to follow.

For more information, call (615)740-5600. The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Gaslight Dinner Theatre page for more about dinner theatre.

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