I know it is passe to be excited about Hamlet, but I ALWAYS get excited about Hamlet.
Some people believe that once you’ve seen it a time or two, you’re done. But I’m sorry. I cry ‘shenanigans’ at that. The reason Hamlet is Hamlet is because you can see it as many different ways with as many different casts as possible and see something fabulous in it. No matter if it is the best Hamlet, the worst Hamlet, or the myriad Hamlets in between, there is still something to find in it. If you have the eyes to look.
I’d highly recommend the Independent Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet for exactly that sense of freshness that one hopes to find in something so familiar.
David Melville as Hamlet (with Sean Pritchett as Claudius)
David Melville’s Dane is funny, intense and thoroughly engaging, wandering back and forth between the prince’s impulsive cruelties and his whimsical humor. Director Melissa Chalsma’s staging is neat and brisk and her interpretations worth considering. The costumes by Tamar Michelle and stage design by Caitlin Lainoff have a rough-hewn, unpolished look, which lends the outdoor production a DIY sort of feel. But from me, that’s a compliment. I’m odd in that I will always take unpolished, raw, gritty, imperfect, but ultimately human Shakespeare over ultra-varnished design and dead performances, any day.
Standouts in the production are Luis Galindo as Old Hamlet’s Ghost/The Player King/The Gravedigger who lent every moment onstage great urgency and Bernadette Sullivan as Gertrude, whose Closet Scene with Melville is one of the best and most moving I’ve seen anywhere.
The Closet Scene (Melville and Sullivan)
The entire cast is incredibly well-spoken, conveying the amazing language naturally and clearly. The entire ensemble uses humor to great effect and I have to say I was impressed that I could hear nearly every word spoken by the unamplified actors’ voices. I was sitting in the upper quarter of the over 900 person audience (My companions, who are not as accustomed to listening so closely to actors as I am, had more trouble getting all of the language. But I told them to listen harder!).
All in all, this Hamlet is worth the trek into Griffith Park if you’re in the LA area or Bakersfield. It runs three more Sunday evenings (August 14, 21 and 28 at 7:00 p.m. Admission is FREE. http://www.iscla.org/
‘Tis an honest critique by an honest reviewer. There’s much to like in this production: its humor, its drama, its respect for text, its violence— the rapier play in the closing scene, between Laertes and Hamlet, is… sharp. See it if you can. Price is not an object. It’s alfresco and it’s free.