Posted on: Friday, April 22, 2005

A 'nite' to remember

•	Curtain still calls: Breaking out in song or whatevah
•	Shakespeare in pidgin renders culture fo' all
•	Who's who in 'wateva'

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Chi Ho Law plays Sir Andy Waha (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), half of a comic Chinese duo, in "twelf nite 'o WATEVA" at the Kennedy Theatre. Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

From left, Jabez Armodia, Alvin Chan and Chi Ho Law rehearse while Anji Scalf adjusts a costume. The play, by the late James Grant Benton, originally featured members of the comedy troupe Booga Booga. This production, says Terence Knapp, has "lovely new talent."

From left, Armodia and Jamy Torres bring aloha humor and attire to Benson's take on Shakespeare. The production will be the last directed by Terence Knapp at Kennedy Theatre.

'TWELF NITE O' WATEVA' James Grant Benton's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night or What You Will." Opens at 8 p.m. today; repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday (interpreted in sign language for the deaf), at 8 p.m. Thursday and April 29-30, and at 2 p.m. May 1 Kennedy Theatre $15 general; $12 seniors, military, UH faculty and staff; $10 students; $3 UH-Manoa students 956-7655, 944-2697, etickethawaii.com Also: Pre-show chat with Tony Pisculli, R. Kevin Doyle and Harry Wong III at 7 p.m. Saturday and with Terence Knapp at 7 p.m. April 30; "Bard's Birthday Bash," 6 p.m. Sunday, Kennedy Theatre main stage; free From Bard to Bruddah Here's a look at how James Grant Benton translated Shakespeare's English into pidgin English. Shakespeare's version: Orsino, Duke of Illyria: "O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame. To pay this debt of love but to a brother, How will she love when the rich golden shaft Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else That live in her; when liver, brain and heart, These sovereign thrones, are all supplised and fill'd, Her sweet perfections, with one self king! Away before me to sweet beds of flow'rs: Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bow'rs." Benton's version (as seen on the TGIF cover page): Amalu: "Ho, shucks, she wit one fine heart going give all her aloha to one bruddah dat already said aloha! If she going keep dis up, she for sure going lose all da love dat she get in her. Auwe! What a waste. All dat fo one dead bruddah. Alika, take me away and bury me in one bed of pikake, cause love-thoughts are sick when covered wit flowers."

Terence Knapp, an actor and director, vividly recalls the day James Grant Benton, then a comedian and actor, banged on his office door at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, shouting, "Eh, you Shakespeare's wallah (guardian or protector) of Hawai'i?"

It was 1970. Knapp was then, as he remains today, an eminent Shakespeare wizard.

"Jim had been in 'Hair' in Las Vegas for 15 months and was very curious about me and Shakespeare," said Knapp, reflecting on Benton. "So much so that he begged me, in addition to the five courses I was teaching, to do an informal Shakespeare seminar."

That, in essence, was the day "twelf nite o' WATEVA" was born. A cadre of innocent, inexperienced student actors would gather in Knapp's office and talk story, do dialects and explore Elizabethan cadence, not initially anticipating a rewrite of the Bard. But from such a simple beginning, Benton put the pidgin spin on "Twelfth Night or What You Will," lovingly transforming it into local lingo.

The rest is local history.

Using the original script he has cherished since, Knapp, 73, an emeritus professor of drama and theater at UH, will restage "WATEVA" starting tonight on the Kennedy Theatre's main stage, where the odyssey began. The revival is doubly significant: It will be Knapp's ultimate homage to Benton and also his swan song — the nightcap to a bountiful 35-year run at Kennedy Theatre.

"It's my sayonara production, and as I thought about retirement, I figured it would be lovely to restage 'WATEVA' to remember Jim," said Knapp.

Benton, of course, was one of the pillars of Booga Booga, the local-comedy trio with Ed Ka'ahea and the late Rap Reiplinger. Benton died of an apparent heart attack May 28, 2002, at age 53. His ingenious and often irreverent creation has never dimmed — it was the little play that could, would, and did change local theater considerably, a labor of love not lost on the generation of playwrights that would follow him.

"I do think James Grant Benton was a kupuna for many of the Hawai'i playwrights who came after," said Lee Cataluna, who writes plays using local characters and lingo and is also an Advertiser columnist. "His work, with Booga Booga and on his own, was really groundbreaking stuff. For a lot of future local writers, it was the first time we even considered the possibility that local characters, dialogue and story lines could take to the stage. Theater wasn't just about Oklahoma or New York or Merrie Olde England."

Or, as Harry Wong III, artistic director of Kumu Kahua, the theater group that regularly showcases plays with local themes and pidgin, puts it: "The play definitely made its impact. It's true, in Shakespeare's time, that Shakespeare knew his audience, so he set 'Twelfth Night' in Italy, but he made references to places and streets in England, knowing his audience would get it. You start with, 'Oh, let's go pick up some girls; where should we go, Hotel Street?' Professor Knapp and James Grant Benton were feeding off that, making the play more accessible."

Lisa Matsumoto, author of and actress in a trilogy of "Once Upon One Time" pidgin English musicals that explore classic fairy tales, said she remembers seeing "twelf nite" after working on a few of her early shows. She loved the notion of adapting the Bard.

"It was a wonderful translation and I especially love the idea of 'localizing' Shakespeare and 'bringing him home,' " she said. "Shakespeare's work is well-suited for pidgin, especially with all of his diverse and colorful characters.

"Terence Knapp ... used to have me do Shakespeare monologues in pidgin so that I could better 'connect' with the character and essence of the scene, way back when I was an acting student. I found it to be an extremely helpful, not to mention fun, exercise. And I'm sure that also influenced my work with pidgin adaptations."

But the Benton pidgin concoction, with its local ingredients and flavors, didn't happen overnight, said Knapp.

"We would sit in my office, with readings of the play, doing scenes in English, regional accents or dialects, like Cockney or Scots or Welsh, and none were awfully good," he recalled. "Even the Texan. We met regularly. All most could imitate was Scarlett O'Hara, and when I suggested pidgin, the students all said, 'Teachers don't like it.' Well, I told them, bugger the school teacher; I'm in charge here. It was enormous fun."

In 1974, Knapp had scooted off to Japan to do a Japanese production of "Twelfth Night," called "Junniya," which won a critics' award. It featured a Beatles-type band on stage, with costumes that had Carnaby Street origins.

That radical version didn't rattle his cage, but when he returned from that trip, Knapp was confronted with "a heavy parcel of paper from Jim, who said, 'Oh, dis for you, and we have to do it.' It was his adaptation of 'Twelfth Night,' and I told him, 'I have three productions already.' "

As it turned out, the show was mounted during the Christmas season as a Lab Theatre production, with Ka'ahea, then a student of Knapp's, and Benton, also a student convert, finagling further comedic participation from their Booga buddy Reiplinger.

"You can imagine what a wonderful experience that was," said Knapp. "I was so happy, we took it to the Leeward side. Audiences had so much fun I thought the walls would cave in."

Knapp, the Shakespeare wizard, said Benton had it all down pat.

"He was terribly true to Shakespeare's plot," said Knapp. "He did not amend any circumstance in the play, and that's why I consented to do it with him. He respected character; he did have delightfully persuasive Hawaiian surroundings."

Where his original was blessed by the presence of the Booga Booga ensemble, Knapp is greeting "lovely new talent. ... I have my fingers crossed and am hopeful this will all work out," he said. "We have 'ukulele players, even hula. We wanted to add 'Livin' on Easy,' that hapa-haole song, and were hard-pressed to find the right version, and thanks to Donald Yap and Wisa D'Orso, we have it now."

Knapp said the "WATEVA" revival has the blessing of Deborah Benton, the author's widow, who plans to attend with members of the family.

"She did tell me, when I got the consent to do the show again, that this early version is the one he really loved best. Along the way, some changes were made. I know nothing about those. I originally directed with the script I have."

Curiously, "Twelfth Night" is Knapp's all-time Shakespeare favorite.

"It's the play I love best, because it's the first performance I gave, in 1954 in Liverpool, where Brian Epstein (who found and managed The Beatles early on) was just around the corner," he said. "I played one of the clowns, Feste (a servant), so the play is close to my heart. I've directed it three times (not including the pidgin version), and it's a delightful comedy, with the touch of the Marx Brothers, with really silly people doing silly things, conveying to the audience the lunacy of life. It's all about falling in love, wanting to love, willing to love."

Playwright James Grant Benton, in hat, had the role of Prince Amalu in the original Kennedy Theatre production of "twelf nite." Kennedy Theater

He was moved to re-stage the play when he attended Benton's funeral in 2002. And the intent was to bring the work full cycle, back to the Kennedy stage, where it all began.

This production will be a lot more elegant than the humble original. "Joe Dodd has done a stunning set; Sandra Finney is designing the costumes. The look and feel will be like the late '20s, early '30s Matson liner menu — very nice," said Knapp.

His original text was so beaten up and faded, Knapp had a secretary "who went blind typing it up."

He still treasures the original and said "it has historical value. It will go into the archives, when I take my papers, my photos, and five scrapbooks covering 35 years, with cuttings (newspaper articles) ... to close the book."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.

• • •

Curtain still calls: Breaking out in song or whatevah

What's ahead for retiring theater professor Terence Knapp? A lot.

"WATEVA" wraps up his life as a director — for now, anyway — but Terence Knapp still has a lot on his plate as he moves into retirement from his University of Hawai'i teaching job.

He's winding up his three courses in voice production, a Shakespeare seminar on studying plays and one on monologues and auditions, along with his graduate-level course on classic "great" roles, but he's also prepping for the "Bard Bash XXXV: Shakespeare's Birthday," at 6 p.m. Sunday at Kennedy Theatre.

"I don't have energy anymore for a 60-hour work week, nonstop, but there are certain things I'd still like to do, things I haven't had time for," said Knapp. "Like Chekov, in recital form, like a reading company with scripts. I don't want to memorize anything anymore.

"And I'd like to sing, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter and such in an 'Evening With Terence Knapp' kind of a thing. Maybe with a guest artist, and certainly with Donald Yap, with whom I did Fagin in 'Oliver!' and he was m.d. (musical director). Donald is so brilliant."

As an emeritus professor, he will maintain an office at the Kennedy Theatre, so he won't be totally retired.

And he'll perform in Diamond Head Theatre's 90th anniversary fund-raiser April 30 at the Wai'alae Country Club, singing "How to Handle a Woman" from "Camelot" while Beverly Noa dances, and help judge the National Society of Arts & Letters' "Acting for Comedy" event May 20.

• • •

Shakespeare in pidgin renders culture fo' all

Kelcie Awo plays Honey Boy and Lahela in "twelf nite o' WATEVA" at Kennedy Theatre.

They kibitzed and huddled backstage at Kennedy Theatre Monday night, primping before mirrors, fidgeting with their costumes, singing hapa-haole songs.

It was loose and casual, with mana'o to spare, as actors whipped out guitars and 'ukulele and shuffled into party mode. The 'ohana spirit helped ease nervousness. It was all part of the drill, as students prepared for the first dress rehearsal of James Grant Benton's "twelf nite o' WATEVA," premiering tonight with Terence Knapp at the helm.

"I wasn't going to audition," said Noelle Poole, 27, who plays Princess Mahealani (the equivalent of Olivia), in the local adaptation of the Shakespearean comedy. "But it's Terry's last show. I had to do it. I'm comfortable with the character's love for everyone and how she easily falls in love."

After a pause, she added: "And I'm sure he's up there, watching." The "he" is Benton, the late comedian-actor-playwright, in whose memory the show is being staged. He put the pidgin spin on Shakespeare; most of the cast have heard his name, know of him particularly through the Booga Booga legacy, but have never seen Benton on stage or in a previous "twelf nite."

Troy Apostol, 32, cast as Malolio (Malvolio), was invited by Knapp to join the cast after they worked together in the Bard's "Much Ado About Nothing."

"I was apprehensive at first ... about the pidgin," said Apostol. "The last pidgin show I did was well over a decade ago. But I can relate to the character — the uptightness, the theme of unrequited love — and while I didn't experience Benton, my uncles and aunties still talk about and remember him. I'm having great fun."

Kelcie Awo, 18, a University of Hawai'i freshman from Wai'anae, is making her Kennedy debut as Lahela (Viola), the character also disguised as Honey Boy. "I can relate: When I was little, I was such a tomboy," she said. "I think I wanted to be a boy and used to play with the boys. So I cut my (long) hair to look more butch."

Chi Ho Law, 23, originally from Hong Kong, and Alvin Chan, also 23, adore their comedic banter as stereotypical Sir Andy Waha (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) and Count Opunui (Toby Belch), respectively. Knapp altered the Filipino and Hawaiian original roles to create a Chinese duo.

"The fact that Benton made Shakespeare accessible to a local crowd is great," said Chan about the pidgin transformation and his reshaped nose. "I was told I had to look a little different, they gave me a fake nose. And this really is an ensemble effort; there is no leading character. It's fun."

Law said "pidgin was not something I was really into" because of his Hong Kong heritage, but that living in Hawai'i for the past decade (he graduated from Saint Louis) exposed him to the lingo.

Knapp lords over the rehearsal like a proud papa.

"I think Troy is just perfect," he said of Apostol's stage presence. "I saw Olivier (Laurence Olivier) do this role, and Troy's as good, maybe better," said Knapp. "I know Jim's peeking over my shoulder — and smiling."

Or laughing.

The lines are classic, in the Booga Booga tradition.

Prince Amalu (Orsino) utters lines such as "not too sweet, not too rancid, but just right" and "My love for her is deeper than Hanauma Bay ... and more beautiful than the sunset at Makaha."

In the maiden voyage of the play, Benton portrayed Prince Amalu, Ed Ka'ahea was Opunui and Rap Reiplinger was Lope.

"It was a dream cast," said Knapp.