June 01, 2010

Profile: Darren Bridgett, 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)'




















Taking risks with the Bard


Article Launched: 07/05/2007 05:18:10 PM PDT


By Mark Langton

IJ Correspondent



The thing about actor Darren Bridgett's hands is that they are disproportionately large.

They may even be bigger than his head.


Just to give you an idea, he could probably pick up a loaf of bread in one hand and say guess what I got.


Far from looking ham-handed or clumsy, however, there is something extraordinarily precise about the way Bridgett uses his hands on stage: Elegant when taking flight, graceful in repose, and endlessly inventive when they get busy.

And they are very busy now.

At present, his hands are working out the timing of a Three Stooges eye-poking/eye-poke-blocking routine with fellow actor Ryan Schmidt, 28, while veteran actor Jarion Monroe, 59, looks on. The three make up the cast of Marin Shakespeare Company's 2007 season-opener, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," a wildly popular Shakespeare parody where three actors are charged with the task of performing all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in less than two hours, playing a total of 75 roles.

Bridgett is manipulating the hands of a life-sized dummy with his face on it, squaring off with Schmidt's dummy, doing Curly moves to his Moe. The scene ends, and Bridgett emerges frombehind a curtain, out of breath, his dummy tucked casually under his arm. "Did that read?" he asks director Robert Currier. "Could you tell that I did the thumb-biting thing?"

"Nope. Couldn't see it," Currier says. "Besides, you're way beyond thumb-biting at this point. You should be well into the area of more grievous bodily harm - eye gouging, ankle twisting, that sort of thing."

"YES!" cries Bridgett, hurling himself and his dummy to the floor and rolling around the stage in a life-and-death struggle. Schmidt seizes the opportunity to start choking his own dummy, before turning and using it to pummel the battling "Bridgetts." Meanwhile, Monroe sits quietly on a stool at stage left, shaking his head in mock disgust. He looks up at the small audience of visitors, staff and crew and does an exaggerated roll of his eyes. I mean, really. Discipline's gone all to hell around here.

Bridgett surrenders to the dummy and gets up slowly, looking defeated. "This is so SAD. To be overpowered and pinned down by a dummy," he says, then quickly brightens. "I know! I'll create a diversion! Look out! Over there!" he cries, pointing to the forest. "IT'S DICK CHENEY!!"

He was born in Palo Alto and started performing in community theater when he was 8 years old. He concentrated on sports in high school and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of California at Berkeley. This is his ninth season with the Marin Shakespeare Company, almost always in a leading role, including three previous productions of "The Complete...(abridged)." Other companies include the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, TheatreWorks, Magic Theatre, Center Rep, ACT, Laguna Playhouse, California Shakespeare Festival, TheatreFirst, CentralWorks, San Jose Stage and Napa Valley Rep.

Bridgett has a reputation for being an extremely generous actor to work with and notorious for unpredictable comic invention. Character actor George Maguire, veteran of stage and screen, has worked with Bridgett many times. "There was this thing he did with a fish in 'She Stoops to Conquer' that was different every night. We'd just make room for it. And I would gladly bow to Darren any time he wants to go out into the audience."

"He's an ideal actor to work with for a director," says director Lee Sankowich, former artistic director at Marin Theatre Company. "He's an actor who brings lots of ideas to every rehearsal, but is not above taking direction. And he is a genuinely sweet man."

Alexandra Matthew, who played Ophelia opposite Bridgett's Hamlet in an MSC production of "Hamlet," praised his unusually intuitive approach to the Prince of Denmark. "What was so much fun with Darren is that he kept it very loose, even changing the blocking sometimes. He would do soliloquies in the audience, making it more intimate. He took risks, and I thought his approach to the language was honest and refreshing."

Not everybody thought so. Some Shakespeare purists took issue with his unconventional style. Currier, who was his director in "Hamlet," says, "I suppose his Hamlet took some knocks because Darren's not classically trained in that way. Many American actors are not."

But while he may not have had total command of the verse, says Currier, he more than made up for it with honesty, athletic ability and wit. And loads of personal charm.

"People like working with Darren because he is genuine. A sweet, sweet soul. I think he fulfills that ancient Greek definition of good citizen: A good husband, father, friend, artist and athlete - excellence in all.

"Except he can't carry a tune in a bushel basket."

Bridgett is also a popular teacher, leading a class in audition preparation for the company. When three of his students are asked how they like their teacher, they practically fall over each other to count the ways - counting them off on their fingers.

"He's funny," says Jayne Deely, 21. "Dedicated," says Vivian Kane, 23, "the kind of teacher you want to respect." "Yeah," says Laura Taylor, 20, stopping at her ring finger, "and he's the kind of teacher you want to MARRY."

All three laugh. "If he wasn't married...," says the obviously besotted Taylor, "Oh ... my ... God."

Bridgett is lost in another improvised fight scene, this time with what appears to be a toy Godzilla in his left hand and toy Transformer in his right. "Don't look into my eyes," he whispers, "or you will become intoxicated by my toxic robot plastic!"

"Oh nooooo," he cries, now in Transformer falsetto, "Help! Help! My eyes! My eyes!!"

He quickly runs offstage. Within seconds, he's back, riding in on a toy hobby horse, wearing a torn dress with a bustle and a bad female wig. As the sword fight that follows reaches a swashbuckling coup de grace, Bridgett looks at the plastic sword in his hand and starts to laugh.

"I'm sorry. I just realized something ...," he says. "I'm an adult. I'm over 40 years old, and here I am flipping a kidney across a theater with a plastic sword."

He shakes his head, marveling at his good fortune.

"Is this a great job, or what?"



IF YOU GO

Who: Marin Shakespeare Company

What: "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," by Jess Borgeson, Adam Long and Daniel Singer, directed by Robert Currier, through Aug. 12.

Tickets: $15 to $30, see Web site for special days

Where: Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, Dominican University, San Rafael.

Information: 499-4488, http://www.marinshakespeare.org/

Extras: Free conversations with scholars or company artists at 7:30 p.m. Friday nights (except openings)

Mark Langton can be reached at mark.langton@comcast.net.

First published: 7/6/07

(Photo Provided by Morgan Cowin Photography)

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