The tiny Gift Theatre, occupancy 50, has bitten off a big challenge with its determination to present Hamlet. Featuring Daniel Kyri in the title role of Shakespeare’s classic, director Monty Cole has hewed to the melodious Elizabethan English of the script.
The production has contemporary touches that largely respect the genius of the playwright, while delivering a show that the author would recognize, and which conveys the crucial dramatic conflicts. And, a mark of a serious production, Cole and cast examine anew the mysteries that will ever surround the motives and actions of the characters.
In a nutshell, young prince Hamlet suspects his mother Gertrude and uncle Claudius are complicit in the recent death of his father, King Hamlet. The two have married, and for the rest of the play Hamlet works through his feelings of anger and guilt, goaded by ghostly appearances of his father. Hamlet’s girlfriend Ophelia, her brother Laertes and their dad Polonius are killed in the fallout. Likewise for Claudius and Gertrude.
Producing any play requires envisioning and mastering the drama, psyching out characters and motivation, getting the script down. With Shakespeare, you also must account for the specific challenge of a language in iambic pentameter, and at times florid or obscure.
So Shakespearean acting is its own special skill. The cast has largely nailed the motivation and inculcated it to their roles on stage, delivering moving performances with conviction. But, alas, the language suffers a few slings and arrows along the way – though there are bright spots – including a rap version of one monolog that was very successful.
From the moment she appears, silently regal, completely in touch with the Gertrude, Shanesia Davis shows how it’s done. Her every line is immediately clear, even when we are uncertain of an archaic word or phrase – we totally understand her. Davis acting background makes it clear why – she has a lot of experience with Shakespearean roles.
Daniel Kyri has captured young Hamlet, and we ride with him through his internal turmoil. But Kyri is still working through what is one of theatre’s most demanding roles. Of those seven famous Hamlet soliloquies, I felt he did best with the fifth (“Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out”) and the sixth (“Now might I do it pat now he is praying, And now I'll do it, and so he goes to heaven.”)
Netta Walker’s performance as Ophelia was balanced and well done. Martel Manning as actor Guildenstern and the very funny Grave Digger, had a magnetic presence on stage. Gregory Fenner as Laertes has all the passion and constrined fury required. Alexander Lane carries a military strength and sinister swagger in his three roles as Fortinbras, Valteman and Marcellus.
Not everything works, though most things do. Cole, who spent a year in the development of the show, keeps the play in its historic setting, but the production is unconstrained by period dress. Several younger characters have smart phones, and somehow, these make sense. They are used as flashlights in some scenes, and Ophelia sings along with her earbuds in. Smart phones are now a normal human appendage, like eyeglasses, and are almost invisible in their roles in the show.
The set was nice – a classic paneled plaster hallway illuminated by sconces with decaying carpeting on the floor, the edges lined by weeds and smashed beer cans. William Boles did scenic design, but I do quibble with whoever made the decision to encase the stage in a box of acrylic sheets, so the actors play behind a “glass.” This muted the sound and an effort to mic the space was unsuccessful.
