Reality takes a hit in Berkeley Rep's comic "Nero".
	By Marcus Crowder
	May 26, 2009
	The legend of Nero, emperor of Rome circa A.D. 64., tends to supersize how historians believe he actually lived.
	Fortunately, historians don't write many comic plays, while San Francisco-based playwright Amy Freed skillfully uses both fact and fiction for our greater edification. Freed's sharp new satire "You, Nero" places the famously extravagant emperor in an outrageously funny cautionary tale appropriate to any time or place.
	Freed has written other historically framed works, including "The Beard of Avon," about who may have really written Shakespeare's plays, and "Restoration Comedy," a brilliant take on the classic form incorporating modernist sensibilities.
	With "You, Nero," Freed places the psychopathic egomaniac at the center of her story, but she does not make the story about him. Instead, Freed makes the story about the historically accurate effect Nero had on theater during his times.
	In Freed's play, Nero has banned the performance of tragedies. In his life, the emperor created great gladiatorial spectacles, popular with all strata of Roman life, clearly precursors of many types of entertainment we have today. Nero also liked to perform in public himself and was said to have an obsession with public opinion. To this end, Freed has her Nero (the wonderful Danny Scheie) enlist the playwright Scribonius (a clever Jeff McCarthy) to write a play that will make him sympathetic to the public.
	Scribonius narrates the story in flashback, describing his little-known impact on Nero's career. After Scribonius receives his summons to Nero's palace and is given his assignment, he finds those closest to Nero want to be favorably written into the play as well. Suddenly Scribonius must accommodate Nero's manipulative mother, Agrippina (Lori Larsen), and Nero's equally scheming mistress, Poppaea (Susannah Schulman).
	Then there are Nero's advisers Seneca and Burrus to contend with, and they want something written that will influence Nero to be a better, more humane ruler.
	As Nero, Scheie gives a marvelous performance that is grandiose and vulgar but heartbreaking in its sensitivity and awareness. His spectacular range and timing allow him to coo or rage in split-second intervals, all the while maintaining a guileless charm. Freed wrote the role with Scheie in mind, and he takes full advantage of the vast expressiveness she allows the character.
	Freed finds jokes everywhere but especially in the ironic parallels of creative life then and now. Director Sharon Ott keeps the characters emotionally grounded with realistic emotional stakes in place despite the growing ridiculousness of circumstances. If it can be believed, then Freed's pointed ending shows us how current entertainment franchises with amateur singers vying for public acceptance really got started.