An abstract piece, the premise seems gimmicky at first. Appel and Flachmann wrote, near as I could tell, precisely one line of original script (if you’re wondering, the line is simply: "Shakespeare’s women!") The rest is a fancy rearrangement of individual lines and scenes collected from William Shakespeare’s famous works.

Don’t go for the plot—while the editor’s notes printed in the program describe it as "a classic situation—a lad, spurned by a maid, reacts by deciding all women are fragile, angry, or unfaithful," this is only barely hinted at in the play and is used only as a vehicle to weave the disjointed scenes together. The "lad," played by Chris Lynch, is hosting a cocktail and dancing party of sorts, set in modern times, and Act I is the presentation of his argument that "frailty, thy name is woman."

His "maid" is played by Joanna Springer. After submitting to her companion’s accusations through the first act, Act II is the presentation of her defense of Shakespeare’s women.

That is the plot in its entirety. Trust me, there’s nothing even for me to give away.

But don’t let that stop you from going. Shakespeare’s Women is, in fact, a marvelous play.

It takes some getting used to—as someone who knows a good bit of Shakespeare, I spent the first minutes playing "guess the play" in my head (trying to figure out which play each line came from) instead of following the lad’s argument. None of the actors in the ensemble, besides the host and hostess, remain the same character throughout, cycling through various Shakespearean roles each. Some did replay certain characters more than once, however.

Make no mistake, this is Shakespeare’s women, and it’s the women who shine. As the play progressed I tried to make note of which actresses were putting in the best performance, but by the end found that I had listed every single one.

Sage student Jillian Dion, among the many characters she assumes in the show, plays Kate of Taming of the Shrew perfectly—a little bit of sass, a little bit of spite, a little bit of vulnerability. She brought a modern freshness to the role that I found pleasantly surprising.

Linda Lim, whose predominant character was Rosalynd from Twelfth Night, mastered the old English speech better than most, speaking with such flawlessness that you’d think Shakespearean was her native tongue. Helping her in that act a great deal were some wonderful facial expressions and other non-verbals that always seemed appropriate, never forced. Her "rational" Juliet in the famous balcony scene was an interesting take—I’ve seen that balcony scene a thousand times but never was Juliet played quite like this.

Springer was somewhat limited in the first act by her hostess role, but in Act II she made the most of her portrayal of the latter title character in a scene from Anthony & Cleopatra. She did an outstanding job in the sudden role change from hostess to character actor, and after only a few lines you’ll find yourself forgetting she was ever anything but the tragic queen in this play.

Emily Axford, Maggie McLellan, and Risa Sarachan all put in stellar performances, too, with roles like Amelia, Ophelia, Gertrude, and others.

All in all, the six women were absolutely fantastic. I wouldn’t dare pick a best actress from this play, because each and every one was simply amazing.

Sadly, the men are reduced (perhaps by the script from which they worked) to little more than plot devices, save the stellar performance of Ben Cushing, who did a remarkable job, most notably in the Hamlet scenes. Cushing stole the show whenever he was given the chance with a good measure of power and bravado. Brian Baum, Rick Casey, Matt Chambers, Jonathan Janssen, and Lynch all do a fine job, but they’re overshadowed (maybe rightly so) by their female counterparts.

One special note: the unusual three-quarters stage (Shakespearean style, of course) results in 16 seats that were marked "limited view," and those with seats in the back (which are up on the regular stage of the Playhouse) have a lot of sound muffled by the proscenium and its overhanging curtains. The show is open seating (first to arrive at the show get first choice of seats), so if you want to avoid these seats the producers recommend arriving at least 40 minutes before curtain.