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.