Theater review by Raven Snook
Jacob Ming-Trent has come to preach salvation in his vivacious memoir How Shakespeare Saved My Life. He leads us, his congregation, through a "testimony" based on the life he has led, drawing guidance from a large tome onstage—not the Bible, but the Bard. The morning after his father abandoned his family, 12-year-old Jacob walks into the wrong class and is tasked by the teacher with delivering the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V aloud, an experience that fills him with power and purpose. That world-Shakespearing discovery sets this troubled youth on a new path to become a classical actor, with several dramatic detours along the way: parental estrangement, homelessness, depression, drugs.
How Shakespeare Changed My Life | Photograph: Courtesy HanJie Chow
Ming-Trent’s project began as a series of personal anecdotes before being synthesized into its more ambitious current form. How Shakespeare Saved My Life explores major issues: the impact of generational trauma, the effects of racism and sizeism in the theatre industry, the liberation that comes with forgiveness. It also interpolates passages from Shakespeare and connects the Elizabethan master to more recent writers such as Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur and James Baldwi; Ming-Trent even spits some original rhymes, inspired by the beats of his life, with a bit of poetic license (which seems only fair, since Shakespeare took plenty of that with his histories).
How Shakespeare Changed My Life | Photograph: Courtesy HanJie Chow
A perennial scene-stealer in ensemble work—his gleefully lustful turn Falstaff in Merry Wives was particularly memorable—Ming-Trent is a captivating performer. He even does some endearing bits of crowd work: asking our names, wooing a lady with the Bard's words, having us shout out "play on!" in lieu of "amen!” at pivotal points of the story. But as a writer, Ming-Trent sometimes still seems to be finding his footing. Although Alexander V. Nichols' illustrative projections help ground each section, the journey sometimes feels disjointed. But there’s a moving aspect to watching him work through his issues on a stage at the Public Theater (in a Red Bull Theater production directed by solo show expert Tony Taccone). As a teenager, Ming-Trent started his training at the Public's now-defunct Shakespeare Lab Jr. Now he's back, with lessons of his own, to retake the stage as his world.
How Shakespeare Saved My Life. The Public Theater (Off Broadway) By Jacob Ming-Trent. Directed by Tony Taccone. With Ming-Trent. Running time: 1hr 30mins. No intermission.
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How Shakespeare Changed My Life | Photograph: Courtesy HanJie Chow
