Hamlet

‘The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ a powerful tragedy by William Shakespeare, is presented by the Bare Naked and Class Act Theatre companies. Performed on the main stage at the Subiaco Arts Centre, Wed 26^th Aug 8pm, Thu 27^th Aug 10 a.m. & Fri 28^th Aug 10 a.m. Further performances in Mandurah on the 18^th September.

           It is the year 2000 (four hundred year ahead of the play’s true date of 1600) in the royal castle at Elsinore in Denmark. Prince Hamlet (Craig Williams) strumming an electric fuzz guitar tells us in song of the death of his father.

         Hamlet’s best friend, Horatio (Rhoda Lopez) arrives and tells Hamlet of sightings of the old King’s ghost by the sentries. On hearing this, Hamlet tries to see the ghost for himself. When the spectre appears (on video, like the start of the old ‘Dr Who’ series) the King’s spirit tell how Claudius had poisoned him and requests that Hamlet seeks revenge. After some hesitation, Hamlet decides to take vengeance on his uncle Claudius (Dan Luxton) who has gained the throne by a dubious election and, almost incestuously, married the widowed Queen Gertrude (Angelique Malcolm), Hamlet's mother.

        Laertes (Ben Russell), the father of Hamlet’s girlfriend Ophelia (Whitney Richards), returns from the wars and is told by Polonius (Stephen Lee) that he suspects Hamlet does not have sincere feelings for Ophelia. Then to make things worse Polonius tells Queen Gertrude that he suspects Hamlet is unbalanced. Initially Prince Hamlet feigns madness, and as an alibi, simulates grief.

        Then the trouble really begins – who will gain the other’s love. Who will die in the process?

Director Stephen Lee has an exceptional knowledge of Shakespeare’s writings, and even in this contemporary version, he manages to pass on a full understanding of the script to the audience, which last night was comprised mainly of school students. He also made accessible the hidden agendas of the play. Written at a time of religious upheaval, there is a Catholic versus Protestant theme. Also, satirical playwrights were punished for politically ‘offensive’ works, so Shakespeare had to hide any digs at the establishment. Here Lee has given some of the characters an American ‘deep south’ accent to hint at the strife between Norway and Denmark, I felt the success of this idea was variable.

The play’s light relief, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern scene, is delivered in this production with great success as a hammed-up video scene from the old TV series ‘Dallas’.

Hamlet is the most skilled of all Shakespeare’s plays at rhetoric and, backed with a VERY strong cast, Craig Williams captured the tricky portrayal of the many sensitive meanings with clarity.

The scene where Hamlet fought with and abused Ophelia, the director hinted at the Prince’s possible (but controversial) Oedipus complex. Ophelia’s collapse into madness is superbly depicted with full emotions by Whitney Richards, in her first major production. In a play that is flowing with moral corruption, and which considers most women to be mere whores, the director has chosen a woman to play Horatio – with great success.

Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and most popular work, and it still ranks high among his most performed. Here we have a novel approach that was most successful, and with convincing, vicious fight scenes the play was loved by the young audience, who possibly came to truly understand the story for the first time. Most enjoyable, a difficult play handled with great talent.