22april’15
The Classic Stage Company’s production of Hamlet was a tastefully modern rendition of one of Shakespeare’s most well-remembered and tragic plays. The stage, a square bordered on three sides by the audience, was set around a dining table, with lounge-style couches set at its corners where some players would idle in the shadows while their counterparts would go about their scene; the performance had a dreamlike feel to it, with a sort of super-imposed production quality that had characters off-scene drinking wine at the dining table, while other characters would deliver their lines and go throughout the scene. This effect, while startling at first, reminded the audience that the characters, while not performing in the current scene, were still going about their day, ruminating on the events of the play. The modernity came through with the gentle mood lighting that, surprisingly, came through the floor of the stage --- yes, resemblant of the stereotypical disco lighting, but in soft hues that accented the tone of the scene being performed.
Performing as Hamlet, Peter Sarsgaard (whom you may remember as the villain from the 2011 hollywood production of Green Lantern) gave an unforgettable performance as the tormented Danish prince. His capturing of Hamlet’s grief-induced insanity was frightening --- at times his speech was so convolutedly quick and erratic in tone that one felt more than comprehended the prince’s confusedly-spinning thoughts. Some of the prince’s erratic behavior may have been induced by the copious amounts of alcohol he drank, and were likely exacerbated by the cocaine that he would periodically bump off the back of his hand. Instead of detracting from the show, this added a level of sincerity to it --- drugs and alcohol are a casual thing for many, and I hesitate to mention their role in the play at all, as they were not spotlit in the production.
My initial impulse was to say that Sarsgaard stole the show with his incredible performance, but the truth is that every player on that stage was skilled and took on their role with complete immersion. Lisa Joyce’s Ophelia was, in turns, seductively sweet and, after the death of Polonious, hauntingly mad. It was heartbreaking to watch such a wonderful example of youthful joy and angst become a madwoman speaking in erratic and errie melody. Ophelia was the great observer of the play --- although not written into many of Shakespeare’s scenes, she often would sit on the lounge chair at the corner of the stage while Hamlet delivered his lines around the dining table, watching with observant eyes and neutral expression.
The surprise performance of the evening was delivered by Stephen Spinella as a delightfully comic Polonius; as Sean Contris, one of my companions at the performance, said: “I always thought of Polonius as a skeezy old man, but he’s the funniest motherfucker here tonight!” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Spinella’s Polonius was comically full of himself and formality, and while Spinella lost a line or two during the play, he covered the lapse with the skill of a veteran actor, engaging the other players to jog his memory as a forgetful Polonius might have done, had Shakespeare added such a dimension to Ophelia’s father.
The only lackluster performance of the evening came from Austin Jones, who delivered an overly-sincere Horatio that reminded me every time he spoke that, oh yes, I was watching a play... this is not to say that his performance was bad, but I could not help but be aware that he was an actor playing a role, not Horatio, the tragic prince’s steadfast and beloved companion. This was especially obvious when he was trading lines with the intoxicatingly genuine Sarsgaard.
If I would reccomend an off-broadway show to anyone, I would belligerently promote the Classic Stage Company’s Hamlet, which runs through May 10. Yes, it was absolutely worth sitting for the 3 hours 15 minute duration of the show. Yes, every dollar I spent getting in was well-spent. And yes, I will absolutely be thinking of Sarsgaard and Joyce whenever I think of Hamlet and Ophelia’s beautifully tragic story from now on.
No comments:
Post a Comment