Gertrude in stiletto’s! A ghost-sighting party in Cons! Director Taibi Magar’s decision to stage Hamlet in modern dress in her current production brings this tragedy a striking immediacy. The usurping Claudius, in his crisply tailored suit, could be a conniving CEO and the switchblade wielded by Hamlet as he contemplates killing Claudius echoes more an urban alley brawl than a sword fight. You enter The Gallery Players‘ theater to a spare set: and empty stage painted navy blue, a staircase and a small platform attached to the back wall. But Ms. Magar’s theme becomes immediately clear when Francisco and Bernardo enter with flashlights as they seek the ghost of Hamlet’s father in the darkness outside Elsinore castle.
Among other touches of modernity, the prologue of the mousetrap, Hamlet’s play-within-a-play trap for Claudius, is done in techno-interpretive dance, and after the intermission the players literally set the stage by carrying on stage lights and a microphone. And not to spoil all of fun, Hamlet’s black tee shirt and jeans were not the only other surprise in costume designer Allison Crutchfield’s black and white palette. [click to continue….]
{ 1 comment }
