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Andrew
Wheeler as Polonius, Kate Besworth as Ophelia |
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When & Where June 13 - September 20, 2024; evening 7.30pm, matinees on Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm | BMO Mainstage, Vanier Park Director Steven Drover Costume Designer Barbara Clayden Set Designer Pam Johnson Composer and Sound Designer Mary Jane Coomber Lighting Designer Gerald King Choreography and Intimacy Director Lisa Goebel Fight Director Jonathan Hawley Purvis Production Stage Manager Joanne P.B. Smith Reviewer Elizabeth Paterson |
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Clear, bold and modern, Stephen Drover's adaptation of Hamlet strips away its background of medieval European wars, Renaissance intellectualism and the Jacobean taste for horror. In their place Drover illuminates a long-standing relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, and spices things up with a very modern vibe between King Claudius and Hamlet's mother, Gertrude. He builds a close and affectionate portrait of Ophelia, Laertes and Polonius as a family. The Ghost (Marcus Youssef) remains, and such a ghost as can tear your heart out. Equally haunting is the substitution of a ballad for the Player King and Queen’s re-enactment of Hamlet’s father’s murder. Anton Lipovetsky and Christine Quintana deliver a macabre description of murder “most foul, strange and unnatural” to compelling music by Mary Jane Coomber. A further bold choice is to open with Hamlet's most famous speech, "To be or not to be." While this meditation on suicide balances Hamlet's fortitude at the end of the play, in Khitab's strong delivery it almost suggests that Hamlet is drowning in self-pity. What follows is full of drive and anger; what's missing is the uncertainty, the sideways motion, the two-steps forward-one-back movement of the original structure. Nevertheless, this is a clear and engaging production with many imaginative insights. It is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching to see Ophelia's tragedy so clearly. Kate Besworth embodies Ophelia's fragility, but also gives her charming warmth and affection. Her mad scene is all the harder to take, therefore. The more so as it is compounded by another of Drover's shocking visions. Munish Sharma (Claudius)and Jennifer Clement (Gertrude) are a well-matched power couple, believable and focused. Both also with awesome dance moves, especially Sharma. Andrew Wheeler turns in an understated but thoroughly satisfying performance as Polonius - benevolent father, practiced administrator, chief spy, utterly ruthless and all of a piece. Nathan Kay brings desperation to Laertes, another young man whose life has crashed inexplicably. Ivy Charles and Aidan Correia are Hamlet’s hapless university chums, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz respectively, recruited to spy on Hamlet. With so resolute a Hamlet, Horatio, Hamlet’s sounding board, gets short shrift. Nevertheless, Matthew Ip Shaw turns in a steady performance. On stage, everything supports the concept of the play. There is nothing out of place nor out of joint. Pam Johnson’s set, a great library in a grand palace complete with gallery and library ladder, suggests establishment and order. Barbara Clayden’s costumes suit the characters to a T, from Queen Gertrude’s pink outfit to Ophelia’s pressed jeans, Marcello’s baseball cap to the Gravedigger’s hard hat. Lighting by Gerald King sets mood and tone with subtlety slashed by hallucinatory flashing lights which surround some soliloquies and other moments. Fight director Jonathan Hawley Purvis has devised a fencing match with its own plot and a fierce trajectory. For first timers
or old Shakespeare hands, this is a beautifully acted adaptation, full
of interest, relevance and passion. © 2024 Elizabeth Paterson |
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