KARIS LO / UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII-MANOA Chi Ho Law and Alvin Chan are foremost among the comic stars of the University of Hawaii's "Twelf Nite o' WATEVA!"

Restaging of 1974 pidgin
classic keeps comedy light
and simple

The technique of creating a "new" work by "translating" an existing story or play into pidgin has been exploited so often by island playwrights and storytellers that it's easy to forget that James Grant Benton broke new ground with "Twelf Nite o' WATEVA!" in 1974. Benton's hit treatment of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or As You Will" has been inspiring other writers since, with good reason. With University of Hawaii-Manoa theater legend Terence Knapp once again directing the play, Benton's landmark contribution to pidgin theater proves once again to be among the best ever.

"Twelf Nite o' WATEVA!" Presented by the University of Hawaii-Manoa Department of Theatre and Dance, continues at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday at Kennedy Theatre. Tickets are $15 (with discounts for seniors, military, students and staff). Call 956-7655 or 944-2697; or online at www.etickethawaii.com.

The current production also offers a distinct perspective. Tremendous changes are already wrought by moving the story from 17th-century Italy to an "imaginary kingdom of Hawaii," and by changing the Shakespearean English to 20th-century pidgin. But Knapp and his student cast also put a far different spin on Shakespeare's far-fetched tale of mistaken identity.

Benton is kinder and gentler to the characters, although the strengths and weaknesses of the underlying premise are the same. Both ask us to believe that a woman could not only disguise herself as a male, but also become a perfect double for her adult brother. In both, the comic characters register far more strongly than the romantic leads.

Jabez Sky Armodia (Lope) is an instant hit as a feisty menehune, giving an energetic performance throughout. Armodia got a big laugh on opening night when he stuffed a mango down the front of his malo. He pretty much owned the show after that.

Alvin Chan (Count Opu-Nui) and Chi Ho Law (Sir Andy Waha) are well matched as the two ne'er-do-wells whose alcohol-fueled shenanigans drive two of the strongest subplots. Chan, performing with a false nose and bushy eyebrows, channels Benton as the rascally uncle. Law displays a great command of physical comedy as the clownish hanger-on who fancies himself the future husband of Opu-Nui's royal niece. Savada J. Gilmore (Kohala, a gardener) adds a third comic character, and Troy M. Apostol (Malolio, no-nonsense steward to Opu-Nui's niece) is a commanding presence who plays his key comic scenes perfectly.

Knapp keeps the comic aspects light by making Opu-Nui and Sir Andy less unredeemably obnoxious than when Harry Wong III directed the Bard's original version of the play for the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival in 2003. Knapp also does not prolong the torments endured by the hapless Malolio at the hands of Opu-Nui. On the other hand, no one really gets their comeuppance for abusing Malolio!

Benton might well have been writing for a more innocent and sheltered audience back in the early 1970s, but there is also less suggestion of a homoerotic element to the relationship between the disguised Prince Laka and the pirate who risks his life to help him. Any suggestion of a possibly bawdy relationship between Count Opu-Nui and Kukana also got lost in translation.

On the other hand, Noelle Poole (Princess Mahealani) is everything a feminine object of unrequited love should be -- vibrant, sweet, beautiful, articulate and beautifully attired. David Jonathan (Prince Amalu) is stiff and doltish enough to make the Princess's aversion to Amalu understandable, but Poole also makes the unattainable princess a woman worth striving for and so we appreciate Amalu's longing for her.

Kelcie Noelani Awo (Lahela/Honey Boy) struggles with the tremendous load involved in playing a male-impersonator entangled in an unconventional romantic triangle (Lahela is in love with her male employer, Prince Amalu, a heterosexual, who thinks she is a boy named Honey Boy; Prince Amalu is infatuated with Princess Mahealani, also heterosexual, who is infatuated with Honey Boy, thinking he is a male).

The performance on Friday suggested that Benton was much more interested in the interaction between the comic characters than in the conundrums created by Lahela's success as a male impersonator. Maybe the roles of Prince Amalu and Lahela/Honey Boy need actors with Benton's background in Shakespearean drama to make this side of the story work.

Whatever, or WATEVA, the explanation, there was no appreciable sense that Lahela was ever struggling to hide her romantic interest in Prince Amalu. Nor was there any suggestion that Amalu ever found himself wishing that "Honey Boy" was a girl!

Several musical segments increase the Hawaiianness of the production but also lengthen the running time at the expense of character development and dialogue.

Knapp acknowledges some tinkering with the original script, but the zesty potpourri of one-liners, ethnic humor, sight gags and comic stage combat does justice to Benton's concept of doing Shakespeare in pidgin without losing the feel of the original. Lines like, "Howzit, your highness," a joke about a male character having a "manini lup chong," and a comment about the Royal Hawaiian Hotel being owned "by haoles and Japanese," add touches of contemporary island culture without dumbing it down.

Joseph D. Dodd (set and prop design) accents the sense of Hawaiian fantasy with a set that includes large palm trees, a gazebo with pineapple accents and a backdrop that suggests the cellophane skirts worn by the "hula hula" dancers of old-time Hollywood.