 |
By Robert Ross
Contributing Writer
|
|
Contributing Writer
Pocket Sandwich Theatre has launched a new educational program
called “Leave No Theatergoer Behind” — just joking. Yet the
real Hamlet surfaces now and then in the company’s hilarious
Shakespeare for the Modern Man, Lesson 2: Hamlet. And that link
raises Scott A. Eckert’s script above spoof or parody or
flippancy. Eckert, who directed as well, obviously understands
Shakespeare. He also knows how to get a laugh, for in his hands
— to paraphrase Horatio — “Now cracks a noble play.”
Two versions of Hamlet unfold simultaneously. On stage right,
performers try valiantly to perform it in the traditional mode,
while on stage left a motley crew offers a contemporary and
irreverent gloss on the classic. Lack of funds, the narrator
explains, requires some actors to work both sides. Those
characters who always keep Hamlet moving — Polonius (Chris Hause)
and Horatio (Tim Shane) — act like real Shakespeareans and
connect the disconnections. Hamlet’s tedious college friends,
Rosencrantz (Brandon Scott) and Guildenstern (Charles Moore), have
never been so engaging, here dancing in music hall tradition.
Dona Safran plays the real Queen Gertrude earnestly, while Angela
Wilson’s modern queen appears delightfully clueless and
distracted, more worried about her own family problems than those
of the ancient Danish royal she’s portraying. In contrast,
Safran provides one of the evening’s genuine moments in her
stunning rendition of the speech recounting Ophelia’s death.
Claudius gets model treatment from Michael Roe, while Wes Copeland
transforms the current king into a gangster. The twin Ophelias
differ dramatically, the real damsel (Christine Fincanon) a
paragon of innocence, the other (Trista Wyly) absolutely
psychotic. Bob Schlueter and Jeff Bush ably turn Laertes into the
usual pompous bore — twice.
A pair of Hamlets compete for attention, as though the play were
not complicated enough in a straightforward staging. Matt
Halteman’s official Hamlet and Tim Demsky’s up-to-date Prince
of Denmark play off each other effectively. This approach works
especially well when Halteman launches his “To be or not to
be” number, and Demsky interrupts to translate for the modern
ear. He explains what your high school English teacher never told
you: that Hamlet is simply wondering why we endure so much crap in
life. Also acting as narrator and lecturer and at times resembling
a rock star, Demsky shines. But so does everyone in the 16-member
cast.
Jane Goodman’s imaginative costuming embellishes and helps to
clarify what’s going on. She dresses the corresponding
characters in Elizabethan and modern costumes that are tied
together by similar fabrics and colors.
Borrowing a line from good Queen Gertrude, then changing one word,
sums up this rehabilitated Hamlet: “One woe [substitute
“laugh”] doth tread upon another’s heel,/ So fast they
follow.”
Pocket Sandwich Theatre, 5400 E. Mockingbird. Through Sept. 27.
Thu.-Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 7 p.m. $6-$14. 214-821-1860. |
|
