St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 59

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1990 9G THEATER Renyold Darryl Maximilian Robinson Robinson Has 'A Bit Of The Bard' In His Speech And Manner By Cleora Hughes Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Shakespearean actor his Darryl neighbors Maximil- on lian Chicago's West Side called him the "Madman of Jackson Boulevard." This was no idle designation on their part. Robinson, as he himself admits, was strange. "I was passionate about reading," he said, when he stopped by the Post-Dispatch offices last week to talk about "A Bit of the Bard," his one-man show opening Aug. 3 at the Utopian Loft, 3524 Washington Ave. "And I was forever romanticizing about Greek mythology, knights on horseback and Robin Hood.

I'm talking about a serious Walter Mitty fantasy syndrome here. "If my friends wanted me to play with them, they first had to agree to be one of Robin's Merry Men. When we had the usual boyhood fights, I frightened them by declaring that I was prepared to duel to the death." Robinson's mother, one half of the "deadly parental unit" worried that someone even crazier than her son would kill him. But before that could happen, a music teacher, who, from a safe distance, had watched him go into a hysterical tirade after being accidently hit in the face at a kick ball game, decided to channel all of that energy into the school's Christmas play. As soon as he walked out on the stage, Robinson knew this was his true calling.

There followed a "career" of sorts that found him playing various roles around the country, including stints here in St. Louis on the Goldenrod Showboat and with the Theatre Project Company. It was while he was stranded in Vail, in 1987, that he was asked to come up with a Shakespearean play that would be "entertaining" to the not-easily-impressed patrons at Ruby's Bar and Grill. The result was "A Bit of the Bard," the story of his most revered lordship, Sir Richard Drury Kemp-Kean, a 16th-century actor who was struck by a bolt of lightening in 1660. "He wakes up in the 20th century in Vail, up to his bum in snow," Robinson explained.

"He doesn't know how he got to this place, he doesn't know why he's there, but he immediately adjusts." The reason Sir Richard adjusts so well is because he sees parallels between 20th-century things that are happening to him and the plays of Shakespeare. This premise allows him to present soliloquies from 10 of the Bard's most famous plays. Critics have hailed Robinson's performance as See BARD, Page 11 SPECIAL EVENT Parenting Fair Odell Mitchell Jugglers from the Circus Flora will perform at the fair. Talk to Children About Sex." More Page Entertainment will be by Circus Flora, the "Wizard 3 of Oz" puppet show, storytelling, the Fantastic GymTHE two-day Parenting Fair at Washington Uni- nastics Performing Troupe, and Marilyn the versity's Athletic Complex Aug. 4-5 offers a vari- Magician.

ety of activities for children and parents. There are In addition, there will be special appearances by a 24 -oriented seminars on topics ranging from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Caring Bear, Career Families: How to Find Time for Your ter, Blockbuster Kids, clowns, mimes, face painters, Children" to "Success in Step-Parenting" to "How to balloon sculptors, jugglers and more..