Nobody Said It Was Easy To Stage Hamlet
On the long weekend I saw Hamlet and Man Of Steel. Bizarrely enough, the two were remarkably similar. Plots featuring a well-known hero, vile evildoers, innocent victims - all leading to lots of death and destruction. Each production had a strong creative team which offered stunning designs and visual images. Yet in each case, the resulting product was a mess. In trying to honour a wide variety of themes, the creators of both pieces let the work get away from them.
Directed by Kim Collier, Hamlet at Bard on the Beach features Jonathon Young in the iconic role. As long-time collaborators at Electric Company, the two are known for pushing boundaries and taking risks. Setting this production in present-day is a difficult choice. The audience knows intimately all nuances of the here and now. (Noted director Henry Woolf is reported to have said that Shakespeare with the original text can be moved either into the past or the future, but not the present. If the action of the play happens even a generation in the past, our collective memories are faded enough to allow for the willing suspension of belief.)
What works about this production are the visual design elements. Nancy Bryant's costume design is stunning, Pam Johnson's set design is truly elegant and Gerald King's lighting enhances both. With its outdoor setting, the play is subject to the whims of nature - and I believe that seeing this play on a grey Vancouver day will likely make the design work even more powerful.
What is less successful are the performances. Several of the actors seem unconnected to each other and uncertain of the Shakespearean text. The overall presentational acting style seems at odds with the design elements and present-day setting circa 2013. Many of the actors need more to do in most scenes - there is just not a lot of physical action driving the play forward. Which is a shame as physical theatre is really where Jonathon Young shines.
Collier also takes some risks within this contemporary production. She stages the play-within-a-play using a combination of live action and live feed video. She gives Hamlet control over certain musical elements by using a remote control. She scatters tablets and smartphones and video security feeds throughout. These technological touches fail to pay off - none of it significantly increases the play's emotional intensity.
It is true that director Kim Collier finds some lovely moments. When the play opens with a tryst between Hamlet and Ophelia. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter as a hipster couple excited to be invited to Elsinore. Watching Horatio comfort Ophelia on the death of her father. But it's a long play to watch for a few moments.