With certain playwrights we go into watching their works with the assumption we will be seeing something great. This is perhaps nowhere more true than with William Shakespeare. Afterall he is credited with writing such seminal works as Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet and so much more. However, it also stands to reason that with 37 plays not all of them are going to be winners. Unfortunately his Troilus and Cressida is one of the bad ones. It is being performed this season at The Utah Shakespeare Festival but despite throwing a lot of talent and ideas at it they can’t save this mess of a play.

The main problem with this play is the main characters are an afterthought in their story. Cressida is barely on stage and the 2 of them spend almost no time together until literally ending up in bed with each other. I felt like I had missed something but I don’t think I did despite the Elizabethean language of Shakespeare sometimes being a little confusing.

Director Carolyn Howarth does what she can to elevate the story. The setting is moved up to 1940s war time (instead of Trojan War of original we have WWII) with characters in modern clothing and she even starts Act 2 with a random musical number (original music by Lindsay Jones.) The set by Mark Weaver is impressive with a giant angel statue at the top of the stage and grafiti and rubble beneath.

Most of the actors aren’t given much to do but pose and deliver long rambling monologues. The only one that was interesting is Acchiles played by Walter Kmiec. He has become one of my favorite returning players at the festival each season, and unsurprisingly he’s the standout here. They have him styled with long hair almost like a counter-revolutionary protestor of the 1960s. He fights it out with John Keabler’s Hector and honestly I felt like the play was more about them than the entitled Troilus and Cressida.

Evidently Troilus and Cressida is referred to by historians as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’ in that they don’t know where to categorize it. It’s not a comedy because of all the war themes. It’s not a tragedy with all the comedy of characters like Ajax (Lavour Addison.) It’s kind of a history but feels too soapy for that category. It’s lack of category demonstrates how big a mixture of tones and ideas it really is.

All that said, I do think it is worth seeing every Shakespearean play at least once and the company at USF does what they can to enliven this weaker entry from the great Bard. I’d see it just to check it off your bucket list and for Kmiec and the musical number. Just know you ain’t getting much of a love story and the story you do get is kind of a mess. Troilus and Cressida is playing through September 3rd and tickets can be purchased here.

Troilus and Cressida is Shakespeare’s 24th play squished in between 2 comedies with The Merry Wives of Windsor and All’s Well That Ends Well. It premiered around 1601.

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