By Marilyn Lester***What would Shakespeare say? After all, the Bard’s work has endured for well over 400 years: pushed, pulled and transmogrified in multiple (and sometimes mind-bending) productions over time. That phenomenon is part of Brian Dykstra’s thesis in Polishing Shakespeare, currently playing at 59E59 Theaters (presented by Twilight Theatre Co. in association with Kitchen Theatre Company). The journey begins with a polemic 
on language and a premise that Shakespeare needs updating. We no longer speak the English of the 1500s, yet, we can still understand the works. Fun fact: the arch, clipped delivery that extended into modern times was a product of making the work understandable to the non-English, German-speaking Hanoverian kings of England. Over the last half century, actors have learned to speak the speech naturally, without changing the text.
But as the play opens, Grant (Dystra), is making a case to Ms. Branch (Kate Levy) and Janet (Kate Siahaan-Rigg) that in the 21st century, the Bard isn’t cutting edge enough. As multiple images of the god of playwrights and philosophical genius of the stage peer into the action from a bookcase set piece, Grant forcefully insists that this so-far durable language needs to be completely modernized. Ay, there’s the rub: it becomes apparent that Hamlet has possessed 
Grant: “Speak the speech, I pray you” Hamlet instructs a troupe of actors on how to deliver their lines in the play within a play. In other words, he’s directing them to speak clearly and naturally. Here begins a riotous burlesque of linguistics—and it soon becomes apparent that Grant is walking his talk; Dykstra has wondrously, cleverly and humorously, written Polishing Shakespeare in iambic pentameter, complete with plenty of puns and Elizabethan wordplay.
It turns out that Grant is a dot.com billionaire with an agenda. He’s decided to offer Branch, artistic director of a financially failing regional theater, oodles of cash to work on the Shakespeare language rehabilitation project. The would-be pawn, central to the work, is a desperate playwright of color way over her head in student debt. Ethical/artistic question arise. Number one: how far does the devil have to go to get an artist to sell his/
her soul for cash? Question number two: what is an appropriate and principled balance between monetarily supporting the arts and free creativity? And question number three: who’s ultimately responsible for the dumbing down of culture? As Janet accepts the job and begins the work, the play advances into this territory.
A transitional middle section, centering on artistic differences between Branch and Janet, loses steam. Without Grant in the room this exchange, which serves as a bridge between premises, is a creaky one, begging for a smoother and more pithy intellectual attack. Eventually Grant returns and the politics of art vs wealth unwraps full bore. In essence, money talks. Easily identifiable as a trenchant commentary on current political and social events, Grant might as well be wearing horns as he smugly tells it like it is: commerce is king, no matter the cruelty it engenders—and it is most certainly the right of the powerful, rich elite 
to control the masses and the way of the world. There is “danger in poetry,” he declares. The power of words must be crushed.
Polishing Shakespeare in its arguments thoroughly makes the case against the Grants of the world. Dykstra knows his way around a noun and a verb; he has been an HBO def Poet and for three years was part of Spoken Word Almanac Project (S.W.A.P.) with other spoken word artists. He’s an excellent actor (uniquely suited to appear in his own play) and with a remarkable chemistry with Levy and Siahaan-Rigg, forms a trio of players of award-worthy abilities. But rising to the top is Siahaan-Rigg, tasked with delivering multiple monologues of tongue-twisting verbal gymnastics and intellectual complexity. She’s an astounding whirlwind of talent—stunning, thrilling and far more. Margaret Perry (Artistic Director of Twilight Theatre Co.), who has played Ms. Branch in an earlier production of the play, deftly directed, keeping the action well-paced, flowing and true.
Polishing Shakespeare, unique and gloriously literate, is a must see for anyone interested in well-developed and well executed plays. Its message is timely, and bonus points are richly deserved for it being funny as hell—humor is the spoonful of sugar that carries the day.
Polishing Shakespeare runs through August 10, 2025 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, NYC). Run time is 1 hour, 30 minutes without intermission. Tickets are $44 (incl. a $4 fee) and $30 for 59E59 members. Click here for tickets.
Photos by Carol Rosegg
