Any
review of "Hamlet" is a daunting task. The art of director and designer Terry
Hands and the
other performers behind the scenes and on the boards animating the Chicago
Shakespeare Theatre's
current production of "Hamlet" overcomes that burden. This production
inspires wonder. This production is mesmerizing, illuminating, riveting, fast
paced, and absolutely clear. That said, let's get down to specifics.
A
quick run through the plot: Denmark's King Hamlet (Bruce A. Young as his ghost) has recently died
under confusing circumstances leaving his Queen Gertrude (Barbara Robertson) and Prince Hamlet (Ben
Carlson), old
enough to woo a young Ophelia (Lindsay Gould), but not yet old enough to
rule. Gertrude marries dead husband's brother Claudius (Bruce A. Young again)
within months, and Hamlet suspects foul play. The action of the play is
Hamlet's struggle with suspicions about the ambitions of his uncle, his mother,
his girlfriend, himself. Hamlet artfully uses the world of the theatre and a
band of actors performing for the royal court to dramatize his suspicions
(enacting a story in which a queen's first husband is killed by her second).
Claudius is enraged and sends Hamlet to England; Hamlet returns when he
discovers orders for his death signed by Claudius. In the end, through murder,
suicide, and poisoned wine and sword tips, Hamlet's girlfriend, her father
Polonius (Mike Nussbaum), two young princes of Denmark (Hamlet and Ophelia's brother
Laertes, Andrew Ahrens) as well as Hamlet's uncle and mother are all dead. We as an audience
see and feel not a blood bath but the troubling aftermath of passions and
ambitions run amok.
Dramatically,
this production is instructive and illuminating and inspiring. Ben Carlson
crafts an adult Hamlet, resentful but not whining, who early finds his voice
takes us along on an intriguing journey. Full of humor, with a vocal quality
that happily evokes comparisons to Kenneth Branaugh, Carlson illuminates rather
than indicates, finds new meanings in old familiar stories, and allows us to
sidle up to the familiar speeches with comfort and then surprise and new
understandings. Barbara Robertson brings a solid sensuality to Queen Gertrude.
Bruce A. Young as King Hamlet's Ghost and Claudius commands the stage and
embodies an energy that explains Gertrude's decision to remarry - this is a
compelling and attractive man. Andrew Ahrens lends just the right combination
of ambition and earnest anger and brotherly loyalty to Laertes, as well as a
genuine gift in the fencing scene with Hamlet in the plays final minutes
(beautifully choreographed by Robin H. McFarquhar). Mike Nussbaum finds humor and
pathos in Polonius, and we miss his presence for many reasons when his
character is the first to be dispatched. Lindsay Gould makes an achingly
delicate Ophelia. Wendy Robie's Player Queen and James Harms' First Player illustrate the
solid attention to masterful performances at all levels in CST productions ---
they shine in their essential "play within a play" moments. The
balance of the extensive company is strong.
We
efficiently pass through the elements of this fabulous production. The
experience is crafted into two sections broken by a single intermission - part
one in two hours takes us through the death of Polonius and Hamlet's departure
for England, and part two resumes with Ophelia's mad scene and an hour later
leaves a stage strewn with royal bodies. Visually, we are riveted from the
first moment and, without pause, through the end of the swiftly moving three
hour experience. Full disclosure: I adore spare, clean, intriguingly lit,
focused theatre, and this production delivers on all counts. Terry Hands'
lights and Mark Bailey's set and costumes create a streamlined world in which life and
death and passion and ambition and humor (surprising amounts of humor) play out
beautifully.
Lighting
design by Mr. Hands and associate Julie Duro is gasp inducing. The designers
have created a number of worlds, including twinkling fairy lights reflected
back at the audience by large opaque panels that pivot and transform from their
posts as solo columns to solid walls. Sometimes these panels act as scrims
through which slightly murky action emerges, in frames from another world (e.g.
the two appearances of King Hamlet's ghost); sometimes these panels disappear
entirely and a broad light panel, the size of the full backstage area,
completely upstage, provides a sudden stark illumination source for the
sometimes shadowy figures that march before it. Spot lights at times illuminate
five locations at the back of the stage at times, leading us to think about the
House of Denmark and the individuals who are leading and challenging it. The
marrying of director of action and artist of light helps to raise questions
that both accompany and augment the embodied action of the characters on the
stage. We at times see the dreamy reflective dark floor and shimmering backdrop
and elegantly moving characters in stark white costumes (imagining Fred Astaire
and Eleanor Powel in MGM's "Broadway Melody of 1940"). Other scenes
evoke "A Chorus Line" and "Cabaret" with the suggestive use
of reflective panels suddenly and dramatically assembled as a full wall of
mirrors starkly reflecting the characters to themselves and to us.
Costumes
executed by set designer Mark Bailey augment the production beautifully. His
strategic use of colors -- black, whites, greys, reds and golds -- all signal
and reflect character dimensions in the play. When most characters are in
creamy textured brocaded whites, Hamlet in the first section wears a stark
black overcoat; the visiting actors enter in their grey civilian clothes
slightly highlighted by reds, reflecting a middle world in which they dwell; in
performance these same actors as actor characters introduce bright reds and
golds to the mix; and when Hamlet finally dons off white in the plays final
scenes upon his return to Denmark, the balance of the royal characters are now
fully cloaked in somber blacks. The drape of the fabric and the striking color
choices illuminate rather than distract, in fabulous directions - you will find
your own patterns to follow and meanings in these design choices.
This
is a well paced and delightfully designed treat for the eye and the ear. A
"Hamlet" to be remembered.