So begins Season Two of Slings & Arrows, the Canadian series about the travails of the dramatic company of the New Burbage Festival. I wrote about Season One over a year ago, during the 2013 Christmas holiday. This year's festivities provided a great opportunity to check out Season Two. (Yes, I know I'm quite a few years behind the times. Hamlet doesn't get old, though.)
The new season begins where we left our heroes last season. Hamlet is about to finish its run. We see it mired in a matinee performance attended by a less than interested school group. Their teacher tries to bring them to order with the statement cited earlier. He's not much inspiration, though, as he sleeps through the Ophelia death scene.
Once Hamlet is finished, what's to do? The company moves into their next dramatic season, headlined by Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Much conflict and hilarity ensue as the plays are developed, rehearsed and performed. As a side plot, the Festival works with an advertising company to boost its marketing efforts. It's not nearly that straightforward, though. (A side note here--Colm Feore plays the ad exec in charge of the New Burbage account. He starred in A Midsummer Night's Dream in Stratford, Ontario, the first Shakespearean production that I ever saw live.)
I was left wanting more once Season Two's six episodes were finished. Isn't that what a good play should do, though? It was another terrific performance, one I cannot recommend highly enough. It even left me looking forward to seeing Macbeth live on stage one of these days. Hamlet is still my favorite, but this might be incentive to branch out a bit in the future.
As Hamlet wrapped its final run, one of the audience-goers provided the following summation. It works perfectly.
"I liked it well enough. It's Hamlet. I liked you didn't tart it up.... You can't go wrong with Hamlet."
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