By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
The Upstagers, who have been having performances here since 1977, have hit another home run with their latest production, Barbecuing Hamlet.
Friday’s opener at the Del Rio Civic Center had about 75 people in the audience, and the troupe has three shows left, Oct. 12, 18 and 19 and start promptly at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door and are $15 for adults, $10 for children.
The play, probably rated PG due to mild violence and some extended kissing, is a great first introduction to theater for children as well as extremely entertaining for adults.
The 90-minute play takes audience goers from a community theater group’s first board meeting to the final curtain, and anyone who’s participated in theater can relate to the humorous pain the board, director and cast experience at different times.
Texas playwright Pat Cook has built a near-perfect script that gently pokes Shakespeare and community theater.
The key leads, Jessica Rios and Jared Griffith deliver, but every cast member comes through with Ron Bailey and Whitney Woerner going above and beyond, showing there are no small roles as they are constantly making entrances and delivering crazy-laugh producing shenanigans on-stage.
The director, Gloria Culpepper has harnessed this team of horses and produced another win for Del Rio.
