By DANIEL SHOCK
A Seat on the Aisle
Politics. I’ll bet some of you are already tempted to stop reading after just that word. But there’s no way to talk about Southbank Theatre Company’s production of Bill Cain’s Equivocation without dipping a toe into the topic.
Cain spins a fictional tale stitched from real history: the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (“Remember, remember the fifth of November”), populated by real people – William Shakespeare, King James I, Father Henry Garnet, and more. The story illuminates the impossible tightrope artists walk when telling the truth means risking the scaffold, and silence means surrender.
The play begins as Shakespeare, “Shag” to his friends, is ordered by Robert Cecil, the King’s right hand, to write the official government version of the Gunpowder Plot. The Crown wants a script that cements its story as history. The danger: tell the truth and risk the noose, or write the lie and sell their souls.
What unfolds is part thriller, part backstage comedy, and part meditation on the cost of speaking plainly. In Cain’s hands, history bends toward allegory, and the question that haunts the stage is timeless: how does an artist tell the truth when every word is weighed on the gallows?
Robb Johnston as Shakespeare with Abigail Wittenmyer as Judith. (Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com)
One of Cain’s smartest bits comes right at the beginning, when Robert Cecil sneers at the idea that Shakespeare’s company is organized as a cooperative. The absurdity of powerful men trying to grasp how a band of actors makes decisions together is funny in the moment, but Cain doesn’t leave it as a throwaway. By the end of the play, that same structure becomes a kind of quiet thesis statement. The theatre – messy, fragile, made up of clashing egos and shared purpose – emerges as a model of how human beings might resolve differences without bloodshed.
Director Marcia Eppich-Harris has assembled a fine cast of actors to bring this story to life. Leading the company is Ronn Johnston as William “Shag” Shakespeare, an imperfect, conflicted artist brimming with passion, fear, guilt, and a desperate desire to do the right thing. Johnston doesn’t give us a marble bust of Shakespeare; he gives us a man pulled apart by conscience and survival.
Dan Flahive is marvelous in the dual role of actor Richard (Burbage, I presume) and Father Henry Garnet, the priest who defends the doctrine of equivocation or “how to tell the truth in difficult times.” Flahive’s warmth and conviction make Garnet the play’s moral heartbeat.
As Robert Cecil, J. Charles Weimer is wonderfully reptilian: polished manipulation wrapped in charm. He also slips deftly in and out of other roles, making each distinct without showiness. Matthew Ball proves remarkably versatile as Sharpe, King James, and Tom Wintour; his King James, in particular, is a delight of vanity and menace in equal measure. Joshua Matasovsky likewise shines in multiple guises, each sharply drawn and memorable.
And then there is Abigail Wittenmyer as Judith, Shakespeare’s daughter. Sad, sharp, and unyielding, Judith forces her father to confront his failings – not as a nag, but as a mirror he cannot look away from. Wittenmyer grounds the play’s political intrigue: the truth we dodge at home can be as damning as the lies we tell in public.
The technical side of the production is effective in its simplicity. Sound design by Marcia Eppich-Harris and lighting design by Paully Crumpacker are used sparingly. Costume design by Karen Cones keeps things pared down so the actors can slip quickly between roles. The set design by Aric Harris takes full advantage of the Shelton Auditorium’s thrust stage. A timbered back wall suggests the bones of an Elizabethan playhouse, a nod to Shakespeare’s own Globe.
In her director’s note, Marcia Eppich-Harris asks the essential question: “How do artists keep their integrity, and speak truth to power, in the midst of corruption?” That question pulses through every moment of this production. Southbank Theatre Company’s Equivocation doesn’t just retell and remix history; it reminds us why theatre matters now, at this crossroads in our own politics. It shows us that truth, however dangerous, can still be spoken, and that a community of artists working together may yet be the best model for how we move forward.
The best compliment I can give this production is that I was constantly engaged by the thoughts and dilemmas of the characters. The play contains violence and brief, non-graphic sex. I would take my 15-year-old, but as always, know your child.
Equivocation is presented by Southbank Theatre Company at the Shelton Auditorium, located at 1000 W. 42nd St. on the Butler University campus in Indianapolis. The production runs through Sept. 21, with performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets and more information are available at southbanktheatre.org.
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