Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse has conspired with the Jacobethan Theatre Workshop to drag Shakespeare out of the parking lot and back into the comfy confines of a black box theater with their co-production of Hamlet. Their truncated version of what no less an authority than Laurence Olivier called “the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind” runs on the Playhouse’s Monroe Stage through June 21.
In tribute to the production team’s creative abridgment of Shakepeare’s lengthy tome, I’ll reduce the obligatory plot synopsis to this: Prince Hamlet of Denmark is pissed that his Uncle Claudius offed his father and is now sleeping with his mother. Revenge ensues.
“Cutting” Shakespeare is not uncommon, and a “full” production of this play in particular would run three to four hours, so judicious editing has brought the show down to two acts of a little over an hour each. Whole scenes and subplot points have been excised, and some characters either removed or combined. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been reduced to a single character: the somewhat annoyingly-named Guildencrantz. (It would have been less distracting to simply pick one of the two names and run with it other than drawing unnecessary focus to what has been actually done.)
Shakespeare’s plays are often transported out of their Elizabethan/Jacobean era to more modern times, as is also the case here. The directors’ notes for the show indicate a time setting of about 2008, which means they saved a bundle on costumes and avoided having to deal with cell phones (though technically they have been around since the mid-2000s.) Some (but not all) swords have been replaced with guns, and the play-within-the-play is presented as more of a multimedia performance art piece.
A reduced show means a reduced cast, so co-directors Lukas Raphael (who also plays Hamlet) and Libby Oberlin have gathered a cast of eight, four of whom take on multiple roles. It’s a solid group of actors.
Hamlet is no doubt a bucket list role for any actor with a passion for Shakespeare, as Raphael clearly has, but I found his take on the role a bit oversized for the venue. What might have played better on a larger stage often seemed forced in 6th Street’s small black box. While there were moments I felt he was giving the character his due, I often felt that I was watching HAMLET instead of Hamlet.
I get that Hamlet is furious at the circumstances of his father’s death and I get that his feigned madness (or is it?) is part of his plan to avenge his father, but if your character starts out at 9.8 his journey to 10 is less effective. Is the truncation of the script partially responsible for this? Perhaps.
Ophelia’s descent into madness (as portrayed by Pilar Gonzales) was a much more believable transition.
I appreciated David Noll’s take on Polonius, less a fool than a loving father and full co-conspirator with the villainous Claudius, with Chris Schloemp shading his Claudius with a bit more repentance than most.
Mary Samson gave perhaps the most grounded performance as Gertrude, followed closely by Jamie Montellato’s Laertes. Maddi Scarborough and Sergio Diaz do fine with multiple characters.
The story unfolds on a smartly designed minimalist set (by Raphael) dripping in grey and black that in conjunction with projections (by Schloemp) and lighting (by Levi Klouse) transports you from a palace to a graveyard and beyond. The technical work on this production is excellent.
Overall, one might think it’s insane to cut as much out of Hamlet as they did here and expect it to work as well as it does. Don’t worry, the things you expect to hear/see, you will.
Though this be madness, there is method in’t.
‘Hamlet’ runs through June 21 on the Monroe Stage at 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. Sixth Street, Santa Rosa. Fri & Sat, 7:30pm. $23–$30. 707.523.4185. 6thstreeetplayhouse.com
