Hamlet On The Fringe

The 2013 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival included a work entitled SaMe SeX ShAkEsPeArE, produced by the Rochester Community Players.  It consisted of six scenes from Shakespearean plays performed in a gender-bent fashion.  Some female roles were portrayed by males, and some male roles were played by females.  There were scenes with an all-male cast and scenes with an all-female cast.  One scene had both roles gender-reversed.  It was an interesting revision that led to equally interesting on-stage interactions.

As blogger's luck would have it, one of the selected scenes was Act III, Scene 1 from Hamlet.  The roles of Hamlet and Ophelia were both performed by women.  Hamlet appeared on stage in a costume reminiscent of a 1950's-era teenager--slicked, short hair, black jacket (albeit not leather) and black jeans.  (S)He was attempting to light a cigarette, but the lighter would not work, so the unlit cigarette ended up behind Hamlet's ear.  (S)He began with the "To be or not to be" soliloquy.  It was well acted and played straightforward.  It seemed at times as if Hamlet was speaking directly to the audience, and the actress came off stage and close to the first row to accentuate this.  As expected, the soliloquy led into Ophelia's entrance.  She was in a relatively modern, feminine costume, including a skirt with long pants underneath.  The scene continued through the "nunnery" exchange and ended at what would be the entrance of Claudius and Polonius in a full production.

This is the second time that I have seen Hamlet portrayed by a female.  (See my previous post from July 21, 2013.)  This time, however, there was a difference.  When Kelli Fox portrayed Hamlet, I found it obvious to the point of distraction that the production had a female playing a male role.  This time it was not so glaring.  This could have been a function of extracting a single scene from the full play.  As I watched it, though, the scene became a brief portrait of a relationship, gender aside.  Yes, Shakespeare's text uses the word "Lord" to signify that Hamlet is male.  That notwithstanding, this easily could have been two partners involved in a domestic squabble, an situational vignette of our post-DOMA world.  That realism gave the scene extra life and made it that much more moving.

This production exemplified for me the timeless quality of Hamlet.  One can change the time period, the costuming, even the gender of the cast.  When done well, however, Shakespeare's words still resonate and still have the power to evoke a response from the audience.

A Small Rewrite

Did you ever wonder how that scene with the gravediggers ended up in Hamlet?  Leave it to Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie to give you the answer.  Check out the clip below, regarding Shakespeare's long play with the snappy title, the dodgy soliloquy and the title character whom no one likes.

Hamlet on Broadway (2009)

Travels took me to New York City in October of 2009.  One reason was Hamlet starring Jude Law at the Broadhurst Theatre.  To see another version of the play, with a bona fide Hollywood star, was sufficient incentive for the trip.  (To see A Steady Rain with Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman the following day cemented things.)

I regret that I did not take better notes upon seeing the production.  The idea of this blog was four years in the future, so the only timely (albeit brief) reflections that I had were in a subsequent letter to a friend.  As such, I'm forced to rely on my memories of the show.

My first observation was the proximity of the seat that I managed to score--front row center.  I don't know how I managed that; it must have been luck, considering the late date that I purchased the ticket.  It made for a very up-close view, close enough to see beads of sweat on the actors' faces.  As I discovered, though, the closeness actually cut down the ability to see the whole stage.  The set, including the castle catwalk, went very high up on the stage, which left me craning my neck to see.  It was a small price to pay, though.

The set was large, filling the stage both vertically and horizontally.  The aforementioned high catwalk, stone walls and falling snow made it the most impressive design that I had seen live.

In terms of casting, I found that Jude Law was not the only actor whom I had seen previously.  Ron Cook, who played Polonius, had appeared in the film Hot Fuzz.  Kevin McNally had been in the BBC series, Life on Mars.  He was immediately familiar to me.

The production was very enjoyable.  Jude Law played the role of Hamlet well, although he was a bit emotionally overwrought early on.  Older than university age, in his Henley and collared shirts he was not obviously too old.  Polonius, in a business suit, was less a fop and more devious than I had seen in other versions.  I enjoyed Kevin McNally's portrayal of Claudius, although that could have been my bias after enjoying his previous BBC TV appearance.

I wish that I had further critique of the production.  Suffice it to say that it was a well-staged and well-played Hamlet and a worthy addition to the collection.

An Updated Hamlet

One of the advantages of working in a school is the opportunity to pick up items cast off by students.  One such item was a 2006 novel entitled The Dead Fathers Club.  I had never heard of it before, but when I read that it was an "update of Hamlet" I could not resist.  Written in the speaking style of its eleven-year-old protagonist, it is a very quick read for its 300+ pages.

The story is a familiar one.  A young boy, Philip Noble, is visited by the ghost of his recently deceased father.  The ghost tells Philip that his death was not accidental, and he names his own brother, Alan, as the culprit.  The ghost urges Philip to kill his uncle Alan in order to save the ghost from "The Terrors."

Many Hamlet allusions creep into the work.  In an early scene, characters are described as smoking "Hamlet cigars."  Philip's mother is not named Gertrude, but his angelfish is.  Two of Philip's friends, twins as it turns out, are named Ross and Gary.  An associate of Philip's uncle Alan, a Mr. Fairview, spends his time spouting aphorisms (of the religious variety in this case).  He has two children, a son named Dane and a daughter named Leah, who becomes a special interest of young Philip.  In an attempt to gauge Alan's guilt, Philip heads to the video store to pick up a DVD copy of The Murder of Gonzago, starring, among others, "Academy Award winner Mel Gibson."  At one point in the story, Philip thinks of killing Alan while Alan is kneeling to install a PlayStation (or is it PrayStation?), but he decides against committing the act right then.  The original version of Hamlet even appears in a trivia night question at the family's pub.

Numerous bits of dialogues from Hamlet make it into the story.  A selection:

• "words, words, words"
• "smiling damned villain"
• "fishmonger"
• "To be or not to be"

Not to give away too much of the action of the story, I will say that many of the expected Hamlet plot elements do occur, albeit in novel ways.  The ending does not, however, result in a sword fight.  It still manages to grip the reader, long after the final word has been read.  The book is exceedingly entertaining, even more so for the Hamlet fan searching for the similarities.  It is a great example of how Shakespeare's play manages to fit a modern context to bring the story to another generation of readers.

A Hamlet Regret

Most of the posts thus far have described versions of Hamlet that I have been able to experience.  This post, however, is different.  There is one production that eluded me, a lost opportunity that I regret (occasionally) to this day.

In 2008, Hamlet was a Shakespeare in the Park production in New York's Central Park.  I discovered this one shortly after it had closed its run.  Although getting to it would have been a bit difficult, the casting would have provided ample incentive.  This Hamlet starred, among others, Sam Waterston as Polonius.  As a die-hard fan of the original Law and Order, the opportunity to see Mr. Waterston in this role would have been tremendous.  In addition, Andre Braugher starred as Claudius, which would have been a bonus.  Alas, it was not to be.

The New York Times review that alerted me to the production can be accessed here.  Although the review is mixed, the critic has good things to say about Polonius.