Equivocation

That sneering conniver Sir Robert Cecil has provided more than one pivotal plot point in scores of Elizabethan dramas, but he has never been depicted with so much cunning (and venom) as in Bill Cain's "Equivocation" currently onstage at the Arden Theatre. Cain's inspired plot conjures Shakespeare's world and the pitfalls of daring to tell the artistic truth. The play is fully ignited by director Terry Nolen, who directs one of the finest ensemble casts to hit the Arden stage and that is saying something.

Eric Hissom plays Shakespeare, or Shag, as he was known in the last years of his career in 1605 and a jaded writer/manager trying to keep the Globe in business and artistically honest. This is a hard ticket now that his patron Elizabeth I is dead and the throne is occupied by the vainglorious Scottish King James, homosexual son of Queen Mary (I was waiting all night to write that).

King James has dispatched Cecil to command Shakespeare to dramatize a story called 'The Bomb Plot,' the king's account of an attempt on his life by rebels and clergy. Shag knows it is just political propaganda by the king, verbally sparring with Cecil and refusing James' commission; Cecil puts the screws to him -- figuratively and literally.

The 'co-op' of Globe actors by now can smell bad theater and know that audiences will, too. The commission threatens to bust up the troupe. Shag can't control the backstage power plays as they try to develop the play, popping in and out of fragments of Shag's scenes, between arguments (thrilling comedic fight choreography by Ian Rose).

Shag meanwhile is pumping out scenes at home where his daughter Judith tries to take care of him, even though he treats her like a servant instead of a daughter. Later we find out she had a twin brother who died and this has hardened his heart to her. She rescues his discarded pages of a sketchy play about a murderous Scottish King, which he flings to the floor in frustration, before working on Cecil's commission.

He realizes that he must write a false account of the assassination attempt, so he returns to Cecil and tells him to get another writer or let him know specifics about the plot: who knew what, when, and who was conspiring on the inside, since Cecil knows everything about everything. Cecil gives him access to Thomas and the priest, both waiting the rack and execution.

Shag is pushed against the wall by the real tragedies of the execution of the plotters and he almost quits, until Judith produces the rescued pages of his other Scottish play involving a certain murderous Scottish king.

It's not often you can say that this is an ensemble tour de force, but that is the case here; everyone is perfectly cast, and everyone delivers indelible performances. Nolen can streamline the knottiest of musicals and deftly orchestrates the gritty mystique of the Globe players -- the actors popping in and out of various roles, altogether reveling in Cain's symphonic dialogue cycles.

Sean Lally plays Sparke, the fiery talented actor who always is cast as the fool as he rails to his fellow actors. Lally also portrays King James (hurling a fine Scottish brogue) and Thomas, the conspirator who is being scapegoated in the bomb plot.

Dan Hodge's Cecil is a labyrinth of mannered deceit and a roiling duplicity; Eric Hinsom's Shag is as captivating portrait of the world-weary playwright and Ian Merrill Peakes' always agitated actor-director Richard -- Shag's artistic foil -- is equally steely and eloquent. Anthony Lawton doubling as the doomed priest Robert Catesby and Sir Edward Coke, and briefly (unforgettably) as Lady Macbeth, as always, delights. Campbell O'Hare as Judith, the sole women in the cast, crafts a fine-line, gorgeously unfussy performance.

Wonderful production values starting with the costume design by Rosemarie E. McKelvey. Gauzy rehearsal rags give way to opulent velvet doublets, capes, breeches and armor. The couture pops against the planks and dungeon iron of the David P. Gordon's earthy set design. Kudos also to Solomon Weisbard and Jorge Cousineau, for their atmospheric precision of their sound and lighting designs.

"Equivocation" runs through Dec. 13 at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. 2nd Street, Old City Philadelphia. For information or tickets, call 215-922-1122 or visit https://www.ardentheatre.org