By Dr. Kathy Curtiss
Do you want to laugh hard? Get splattered with blood? Watch a climactic show ending with bodies littering the stage that rise and dance to “Thriller?” Grassroots Shakespeare Company has it all. After a summer season of tour shows, the season has climaxed in the Castle Theatre setting run of Hamlet. As each show begins, the cast rehearses their creed: they perform with the “original practices” of Shakespeare’s day including no directors, no costumer, designers of any kind, the ensemble finds the show establishing their own character and look, working their own comic bits, and they rehearse what they can in about 40 hours. So, you can’t do a full-length 3-hour Hamlet, but you can cut to the chase, representing the essence of the play and bring your best creativity to the table. This is what Grassroots have indeed done. The comedy is very well executed, with great sense of comedic timing, including a flair for dark comedy and features characters that are full of life and have taken the seed of character to a bold extreme. The cast further encourages the audience to respond: to clap, boo, talk to the actors offering them advice and warnings. The audience loves the involvement. The tricky part is for the players to do all of this (which they do so well) and offer an intelligent, insightful development of character and theme. After all, it is Shakespeare.
This production offers the perfect casting of Hamlet for their unique style. Shawn Francis Saunders portrays the character with exceptional intelligence. Every word is clear as he keeps pace, flying through monumental monologues with ease. Saunders also offers depth, style, and grace as he connects powerfully with both his partners on stage and the audience. Bravo. His peer in Laertes, played movingly by Bryson Smelie, adds emotional depth and resonance to his sharp wit and fierce antagonistic stance. He draws sympathy and pathos as he carries his drowned sister to her grave. Likewise, Ophelia, played by Laura Chapman, is funny and quick witted, but steals the play in her bitter, sexually charged mad scene. In the first half, she seems the picture of a trendy feminist who doesn’t need a man. However, the mad scene is chilling in her torn dress and handful of dirt for flowers, so passionate and believable, it is a honest breath of fresh air in the commedia-like-style atmosphere. Gertrude (Nicole McClellan) is elegant and plays well the shock and attraction to her husband and her son. Claudius (Carlos Nobleza Posas) and Polonius (Soren Paul Budge) are exceptional in playing the comedy and melodrama of their characters, but seemed more concerned with being sure to get the laugh, which they certainly do, rather than focusing on balance between depth and connection to meaning and the humanity in the work. This is again part of the style, so they must be recognized for the accuracy and flair for what they are doing in playing the part in that style. Claudius is a boo and hiss bad guy and loving it. It is highly involved and creative work. Posas has an exceptional developed voice for the depth of the character, and his portrayal of the ghost with his dragging chain is unsettling.
Particularly hilarious is the Tweedle-Dee/Tweedle Dum comic duo of Rosencrantz (Jarrith McCoy) and Guildenstern (Tria Truax-Jones), who double as the gravediggers in Act 5. Their co-ordinated costumes and college chum mimickery of each other is truly comedy at its best. Truax-Jones is utterly brilliant as the flippant gravedigger, throwing about skulls and digging up body parts.
Horatio, played by Brandon Bills, is compelling as his character, as well as the other supporting characters of Marcellus (Kris Miles) and Bernardo (Addison Radle) are clear and intense in their roles and creative as the players.
The musicians that start with a 20 minute pre-show continue to create song and sound effects throughout the show. Watching their faces during the show, I noticed the wonderful involvement and serious understanding of the moments. The ghost sequences feature eerie cello and scratched strings of the guitar. Well done.
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GSC has created a way for all to enjoy Shakespeare and I thoroughly support this. However, sitting in row two of the seats, I felt somewhat excluded because it seemed like much of the play, and certainly most if not all of Hamlet’s lovely monologues were “communicated” to the groundlings who stand right in front of the stage. If the passion given to the groundlings could somehow extend to the seated audience as all, I think Grassroots would indeed have it all. Grassroots Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet will be a favorite if you appreciate their goals and their comedic, audience-engaging style. Often patrons bring snacks or dinner, but there are concessions, as well.
Recommended for Shakespeare or drama enthusiastic teens and up. There is blood.
Grassroots Shakespeare Company presents Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Castle Amphitheatre, 1300 East Center Street, Provo, UT 84606 (If you’ve never been to this venue, go all the way up Center Street to the roundabout, go around it and turn north. Turn slightly to the right up the hill. Unless you get there really early, don’t even bother trying to find parking at the top of the hill. Just park and walk up.) Note: This is an outdoor theatre, so bring coats and other warm outer wear, and blankets.
Friday, Saturday, Mondays til October 31, 2018, including a performance on Halloween. 7:00 PM for preshow music and 7:30 PM showtime.
Tickets: $5 for standing “groundlings”, $15 for seating
Contact: (707) 722 – 7529, bard@grassrootsshakespeare.com
Grassroots Shakespeare Company Facebook Page
Hamlet Facebook Event
Art Cred: Scott Robinson
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