Pop Smart - Applause for Mark McKinney’s Slings and Arrows””

The Kids in the Hall’s Mark McKinney has a second claim to fame, in addition to co-founding the hilarious sketch comedy troupe (which plays at the Cobb Energy Centre on Saturday, May 24). McKinney also co-created and co-starred in “Slings and Arrows,” a Canadian comedy series set at the fictional New Burbage Shakespeare Festival.

“Slings & Arrows” stars Paul Gross of “Due South” as a passionate but mentally unbalanced theater director who takes over as New Burbage’s artistic director following the untimely death of his mentor (Stephen Ouimette). The first of the show’s three six-episode seasons surrounds a New Burbage production of Hamlet, and the Shakespearean play provides a parallel to the backstage goings on (which include the director being haunted by his mentor’s ghost). McKinney plays the frantic, money-scrounging general manager, and the cast also includes Martha Burns and recurring appearances from Colm Feore, Don McKellar, Rachel McAdams and Sarah Polley. The dark humor echoes “Six Feet Under,” while the live-theater adrenalin and slapstick suggest what Aaron Sorkin may have been going for with “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”

It’s hard to understate just how much theater people love “Slings and Arrows.” Given that Atlanta has two Shakespeare-based playhouses, Georgia Shakespeare and The New American Shakespeare Tavern, “Slings & Arrows” probably hits even closer to home here than in other communities. A few weeks ago, I emailed some friends and acquaintances whom I suspected could loan me a copy of the show, and heard back from Lee Nowell, an actress/playwright/director married to Phillip DePoy. Her unsolicited remarks about the show are worth quoting in full: