Gertrude the Cry
Thu, 22 May 2008, 08:22 amGordon the Optom2 posts in thread
Gertrude the Cry
Thu, 22 May 2008, 08:22 amThis tragedy is the contemporary tale of 42 years old Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s nymphomaniac mother. Hamlet is puritanical and exceedingly disgusted by his mother's sexual activity.
The ‘Cry’ of the title describes Gertrude’s gasps during a GENUINE orgasm.
In Elsinore Castle, Queen Gertrude (Julia Perkins), offers up her crotch in ‘damned incest’ to brother-in-law Claudius (Jeremy Mitchell), however to gain her, he must first pour poison into his sleeping brother, King Hamlet’s, ear. He has the Queen whilst she stands naked astride her dead husband. Whilst at her husband's funeral, Gertrude gives Claudius oral sex. She is seen by Hamlet’s grandmother, Isola (Marlene O’Dea) who hates Gertrude, perhaps she sees in this promiscuity her own lost hedonistic youth. She fears that she may lose a second son, Claudius, to her evil daughter-in-law, Gertrude.
The butler and story’s narrator, Cascan (Danielle Taylor) knows everything that is going on in the royal household, as the members seek his advice. A powerful position.
Gertrude and Claudius, who is still genuinely in love with his new wife, for months is unable to raise her Cry. This causes Gertrude to seek new partners, even posing as a prostitute.
When Hamlet’s young school friend, the lovesick Albert, Duke of Mecklenburg (Paul Grabovac), has it off with Gertrude in the garden, they are seen by Claudius who is determined to kill the young Duke.
The ghost of his father advises Hamlet (Kit Sparrow), who wishes to kill his disgusting mother, against such a murder. Hamlet therefore attempts to show his mother the error of her ways. Deep down, does he have an Oedipus complex? Hamlet finds a girlfriend Ragusa (Tara Walker) whom he believes has the same moral standards as himself. She is a beautiful, but horsy girl. On seeing Hamlet’s mother’s behaviour, Ragusa also fancies a life of sexual adventure.Gertrude gives birth to Claudius’s child, a girl named Jane, who according to Hamlet will be only too happy to be free of Gertrude’s rancid womb.
Years later, Albert returns to try and capture Gertrude’s heart – or some other bodily part.
At the end of the play, there is the inevitable poison chalice. Who will die on drinking from it? Indeed how many of the royal family will still be standing?
Director Serge Tampalini (tackling his second Barker play) describes this dramatic piece as a palimpsest (Barker wrote several). A palimpsest is where the original words have been deleted to make room for new text.
Howard Barker has been described as ‘the most challenging dramatist on the English stage’. This is his reply to Shakespeare’s classic. He has taken us into the ‘Hamlet’ Gertrude - Claudius love affair, that was skimmed over in the original. Shakespeare's moral sense compelled him, in his writings, to ‘characteristically punish indiscretions with a feeling of guilt’. Hence, the Bard’s Gertrude is almost a virginal lady, casually described as a character saddened with shame and regret. Barker's Gertrude, however, is defiant and shameless trollop.
Barker’s plays are renowned for being tortuous and confusing, but his absurd humour and flowing sentence structure beguiles the audience. He has given us an inventive and detailed examination of the depth and spice of Gertrude and Claudius's love affair, and their connection with the Danish royal family. With Serge’s superb direction, this play has had much of the confusion removed and is relatively easy to follow.
Here Barker shows the intimate relationship of sex and death, sin and ecstasy, throughout the ages, where ensnared women have been bound to their partners by the misdirected, or downright squalid, crimes that they commit, e.g. Bonnie and Clyde, and the locally the Birnies.
Many of this wonderfully experienced cast are, or were, Murdoch Post Graduate students of Theatre or English. The actors were totally involved in this demanding show, all gave powerful performances. Kit Sparrow has improved his theatre skills wonderfully over the past two years. Special congratulations to Julia Perkins whose beguiling eyes and expressive face gave depth to the schizophrenic mad woman. Marlene O’Dea was wonderful as the caring, yet still randy, Queen Mother.
Softly, throughout the performance, was just the correct amount of backing music (Michael Workman’s composition) played on violincello by award winning Tristen Parr.
This show is most definitely not for the prudish and is advertised ‘rated R+’ (although MA+, with strong sexual themes could possibly be more accurate). However, it is an exhilarating experience, which pushes back the confines of everyday theatre text. Very many congratulations to producer Jessica Karasinski, all of the cast and crew, for being brave enough to put on such a difficult and demanding play, sincerely and without pulling punches. Tremendous.