Hamlet the Shadow King

Hamlet made a recent appearance at a local cinema.  This time, he was a character in a production of Kill Shakespeare, based on the graphic novel by Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery.  The performance, hosted by the Little Theatre, was a dramatic reading of the script while slides depicting illustrations from the graphic novel were displayed on the screen behind the actors.  The production was presented by DVC, the group responsible for the Shakespeare-apalooza-rama! performance described previously (see 3/16/14 post).

The story involves numerous Shakespearean characters attempting to kill--or to save--the playwright responsible for their existence.  In terms of specifics, though, I must admit that I found the plot to be rather muddled.  This was undoubtedly a result of editing a large graphic novel series into a ninety-minute stage production.  As Mr. McCreery discussed after the performance, the story arc that comprises it fills twelve issues of the graphic novel series, so significant editing was necessary to fit the performance into a reasonable time frame.

Hamlet is the "Shadow King," the leader of the group that saves Shakespeare.  The young man we see in this production is similar to the tragic hero with whom we are familiar.  The death of his father and remarriage of his mother are part of the initial back story.  He is bothered by visions and ghostly visitations.  He is privy to the performance of a play entitled "The Murder of Gonzago."  In this work, however, Hamlet's romantic interest is Juliet.  (Romeo does appear, but his involvement with Juliet was not entirely clear.)

Following the performance, Conor McCreery was available to speak with the audience and to answer questions about his work. Kill Shakespeare contains numerous allusions to Shakespeare's original works.  Mr. McCreery stated that this was done deliberately, but he and his co-author avoided turning their work into a game of "Spot the Reference."  While transforming the novel into a stage production, many familiar lines and allusions were kept for benefit of the audience.

During the talkback, Mr. McCreery gave a comparison of Hamlet in the character's original setting and Hamlet in modern time.  He opined that Hamlet's Wittenberg would be equivalent to UC-Berkeley now, and Hamlet probably would be a liberal arts major.  One audience member asked the author if he thought the Bard would enjoy the work.  The response was an emphatic "Yes!"

Seeing Kill Shakespeare performed on stage enticed me to look for the graphic novels for a future read.  Based on Mr. McCreery's advice, though, I will wait.  The entire twelve-issue story arc is due to be released in October, 2014, as a hardcover Backstage Edition with annotations from Shakespearean scholars.  I'll look forward to adding it to my Hamlet collection.