Eric Parness | This Week in New York

Karel Čapek’s “R.U.R.” examines the classic battle between man and machine (photo by Jon Kandel)

Beckett Theatre, Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Through February 2, $18
www.resonanceensemble.org

“There’s no progress. There’s never any progress,” engineer Josef Alquist (Chris Ceraso) says at the beginning of Resonance Ensemble’s revival of Karel Čapek’s 1920 play, R.U.R. The seldom-performed work, being presented at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row in a 2002 adaptation by Lee Eric Shackleford that modernizes some of the story, is most well known for its lasting legacy: Not only did the play introduce the word “robot” to the international lexicon (Čapek credited the actual invention of the term to his brother Joseph), but it also set up many of the themes that continue to dominate science-fiction tales today. Set in the 2030s on isolated Rossum Island in the South Pacific, R.U.R., which stands for Rossum’s Universal Robots, follows a small group of scientists and businessmen who are making and selling mechanical men and women to serve in various capacities, from butlers and maids to sexual partners. Helena Gloriov (Christine Bullen) arrives from the League of Humanity, concerned that these robots, which contain organic matter, are being treated like slaves. She has an ethical discussion with Henry Domin (Brad Makarowski), a former lover and current head of R.U.R., about the sentience of such robots as his personal assistant, Sulla (Jane Cortney), who is remarkably lifelike, but he insists, “She’s not alive. She’s a machine with no more notion that she’s alive than she would if she was a geranium in a flowerpot.” But as the serious Dr. Fabry (Matt W. Cody), the jittery Dr. Gall (Kevin Bernard), and the sex-starved, goofy Dr. Hallemeier (Mac Brydon) can’t stop playing god and “improving” their creations in secret new ways, one of the robots, Radius (Tyler Caffall), begins to get ideas of his own, setting up a classic battle of man vs. machine.

A dark future awaits humanity in Karel Čapek’s prescient “R.U.R.” (photo by Jon Kandel)

Directed by Valentina Fratti (Two Brothers, Howling Hilda), R.U.R. is set in a futuristic white room in which the characters debate the ethics and responsibilities of what they’re doing in a world where the number of robots are increasing while the amount of human births is dropping precipitously. The story is told in flashback by Alquist (strongly played by Ceraso), the only human on the island who still works with his hands; he is recording a message about what happened, and things look pretty bleak. Shackleford has updated elements of the plot, adding references to stem cells, for example, to avoid feeling too old-fashioned, but the play still has plenty of clunky moments that reveal its age. Yet even after all these years, it continues to bring up fascinating issues and ethical dilemmas that remain compelling even though we’ve seen them since in the works of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick and such television shows as The Twilight Zone. To further put Čapek’s (War with the Newts) work in perspective, Resonance Ensemble is performing R.U.R. in repertory with Richard Manley’s The Truth Quotient, which also examines the impact of technology on humanity; in addition, several of the performances will be followed by talk backs with artistic director Eric Parness, the playwrights, and various technology experts. (Fun fact: Spencer Tracy played a robot in the 1953 Broadway version of R.U.R.)

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.”