Photo by Howard Owens
“The Whirligig of Time,” the newest production from the Batavia Players at Main St. 56 Theater, melds the fantasy of time travel with the magic of William Shakespeare to captivate an audience's imagination.
Written by Rick Bingen, Whirligig (itself a reference to a line in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night), the play is the story of a woman who visits London on vacation and then returns to complete the journey he longed to take before they returned home. Her husband, a software engineer obsessed with Shakespeare, had planned a visit to a tavern known for its authentic recreation of a watering hole from the Bard's time. Alas, when they arrive on that last night, the tavern is closed.
The husband begs his wife, Olivia (another allusion to the Twelfth Night), to stay in London a few more days and catch another flight home. After all, he argues, you never know if their plane might roll off the runway or he might die of boredom in his job.
After he passes, Olivia returns to London and that tavern. After a brief visit to contemporary times, she is magically transported back four centuries and meets Shakespeare and his friends and associates, Richard Burbage, Will Kemp, Rebecca Heminges, and John Heminges.
Photos by Howard Owens.
