Shakespeare just might be in love in Resonance Ensemble’s SHAKESPEARE’S SLAVE at the Clurman (photo by Jon Kande)

Clurman Theatre, Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Through June 18, $18
212-239-6200
www.resonanceensemble.org
www.theatrerow.org

In 1596, English playwright William Shakespeare (David L. Townsend) finds himself in a creative funk, unable to get inspired to write a play about Henry IV, commissioned by Lord Chamberlain. Instead of putting words down on paper, he spends his time — and what little money he has — drinking and gambling in a local pub. But when he meets a potential benefactor’s brand-new African slave, Grace (Shaun Bennet Wilson), he instantly believes he has met the muse who can change his career — and his life. In the nonprofit Resonance Ensemble production Shakespeare’s Slave, writer Steven Fechter and director Eric Parness tell the fictitious story of this exciting relationship, which stirs the Bard’s loins and, ultimately, his quill. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the 160-minute play feels like unnecessary fluff that goes off in far too many directions, with subplots and brief vignettes that go nowhere or are just excuses for Fechter to pontificate in purplish prose on the evils of slavery. Grace’s owners, Sir John Hunksley (Chris Ceraso) and his wife, Levina (Lucille Duncan), are buffoonish socialites; while Sir John wants to pay Shakespeare a rather tidy sum to write a play about his adventures, Levina wants her own kind of adventures with the down-and-out Shakespeare, who is desperate to remain in London and not have to return home to his wife, Anne Hathaway (Nancy Nagrant), and young son in Stratford-upon-Avon. Zack Calhoon does two funny turns as a foppish theater critic, but those are more like asides to the central issue at hand: that Shakespeare might be in love (Tom Stoppard, anyone?) with an African slave. Referencing such future Shakespeare plays as Hamlet and Othello — in addition to a strong scene in which money lender Simon Drekker (Stewart Walker) offers his take on The Merchant of Venice — Shakespeare’s Slave also wrestles with the fine line between being clever and being overly cute. The play features fine period costumes by Mark Richard Caswell, and Sarah B. Brown’s smart set design features an upper walkway where Hathaway haunts Will from afar, but too much of Shakespeare’s Slave, which does have its inspiring moments, is much ado about nothing — although there is a strong play in there that could potentially be achieved with judicious cutting. Resonance Ensemble’s focus is on presenting classics with related contemporary plays; Shakespeare’s Slave is being presented at Theatre Row in repertory with H4, an adaptation of Henry IV, Part 1 & 2, in a pairing that artistic director Parness says is “a Shakespeare play in modern times and a modern play in Shakespeare’s time.”