Can a clandestine critic overcome his crippling fear of Shakespeare?

Review of “All the World’s A Stage Fright” by Bob Abelman

Review by Carole J Greene

Theater critic Bob Abelman calls his little book, penned during the COVID-19 pandemic, a “fictionalized memoir.” I call it a delight. With humor and credibility, he recounts the story of his project to experience, then write about, what happens behind the proscenium arch.

When he receives press releases sent to the Cleveland Jewish Chronicle, where he is theater critic, about the city’s professional playhouses’ new season productions, “the former actor in me gets the itch to perform.” Hoping to generate increased readership for the weekly paper, Abelman’s boss suggests he audition for a part and turn out articles “from the inside” about the process of staging a play. Okay! Maybe he can actually scratch that itch.

As he peruses the list of productions to be performed in Cleveland’s thriving professional theater scene, second only to New York’s, he decides to audition for the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Producing it will be North Coast Theater, formerly North Coast Shakespeare Ensemble.

This consideration allows him to ruminate on how much he is not a fan of Shakespeare. In fact, he has a crippling, mind-numbing fear of anything Shakespeare. He is grateful that this theater company no longer focuses entirely on the Bard’s productions.

Long a member of Actors’ Equity, under the stage name Asher Kaufman, he has recognized that he was typically cast in small supporting roles calling for someone who looked Jewish. “I’ve been a bottle dancer in more regional productions of “Fiddler [on the Roof]” than I care to remember, and actually played third-Jew-on-the-left in one of the Broadway revivals.” So an ensemble role in “Sweeney Todd” would suit him just fine.

He proposes the idea of his clandestine operation to the producing artistic director of North Coast Theater, who loves the idea of an embedded actor/critic, for the promotional value it would generate. It’s a go — until Abelman learns that the play would be staged and opened in Taos, New Mexico, necessitating his working out of town for a few months. Nope.

A glance down the production schedule stops on a show earlier in the season, a comedy that would be staged in Cleveland and open in Cleveland. Would that work? Yep.

Abelman shakes hands with the director to close the deal. Then he learns that the play is Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” The oxygen leaves the room.

The author pens a score of pages to describe why he fears Shakespeare, the Mount Everest of English literary tradition, and how he is far from alone. He points out that a website and entire book series called No Fear Shakespeare attempts to decipher the Bard’s plays for the “flustered, fearful, floundering masses.” He also seeks help from his therapist, who does little more than validate his phobia.

The heart of this book is the tale delivered in Abelman’s behind-the-scenes articles. They receive enough attention that other actors in the production start telling him stories they deem fascinating enough to appear in one of his columns. During rehearsals, mysterious notes appear in his dressing room. He interprets them as critical of his performance. He writes his own notes and leaves them for the cast members he suspects, with surprising — and hilarious — results. Abelman’s discovery of who has left him all those notes is a surprising revelation I shall leave unrevealed.

Does he conquer his fears? Does he acquit himself as an actor “climbing Mount Everest?” Does he revive his acting career? Does he garner an appreciative audience of his insider articles?

Find out the answer to these and many other haunting questions! Tune in to the virtual presentation on “All the World’s a Stage Fright” by Bob Abelman at noon, Wednesday, Jan. 19. For ticket information, go to jewishnaples.org and scroll to Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival 2021-22.