Syrenah Stein

English 219
Egenolf
12 February 2013
Hamlet Performance Response Paper
On January 31
st
2013, The Actors from the Royal Stage performed William
Shakespeares Hamlet in the Rudder Theatre at Texas A&M University. It is an Elizabethan
tragedy about the aftermath of the death of Hamlets father the king of Denmark. Hamlet comes
back from school to find that his uncle has usurped his rightful place and married his mother the
queen. Hamlet is depressed and mourning, and when a ghost that looks like Hamlet Sr. asks him
to take revenge Hamlet starts to act insane. In this particular performance of Hamlet, the
costumes, the comedy, the mystery, and the set, all came together to make an enjoyable
performance.
Hamlet wearing all black is a popular decision across all media because black is the color
of mourning, but this Hamlet also wore beige shoes. At first I thought it was just an oversight,
but then I decided that it was a wonderfully subtle way to suggest Hamlets eccentricities and
possible madness. He did look a little oddly mismatched the entirety of the play and that added
to the general uneasiness that comes with being in proximity to crazy people. The classic
depiction of Hamlets outfit was juxtaposed by the atypical quality of Ophelias. Usually Ophelia
is the archetypal maiden with long hair and delicate clothing. The obvious zipper on the back of
her skater dress is edgy and the dark navy color is a different choice for a character usually
dressed in pure whites or pastels in order to symbolize innocence. But the dress is simple and
clean cut which makes it versatile. This is necessary when an actor is playing three parts with no
time for actual costume changes. All of the actors had simple costumes and except for the
accessories, all of the colors were neutral or dark. Transitioning to different roles requires that
the costumes be versatile. Usually costumes are carefully designed to be highly indicative of the
personality of the character but that idea is impossible when you cant have costume changes
between roles. In this play the different accessories were used to identify the characters and the
costumes were purposefully understated. To someone unfamiliar with Hamlet this would be
virtually impossible to recognize or keep the characters straight. So this unique type of
costuming relies on the extreme popularity of Hamlet.
Hamlet is arguably the most popular Shakespearian piece. It is a fixture in required
reading lists. But most students find it difficult to read because its wordy, and has unfamiliar
language. But, Hamlet is not a novel. It is first and foremost a performance piece. Therefore,
Hamlet was not written with the intention of being read, and so one should be an audience
member instead of a reader to appreciate all the little nuances. It is rare to see anyone read
Hamlet while smiling, and laughter is out of the question, but Shakespeare actually wrote jokes
in his plays and Polonius is a character made for comic relief. In the text it can be easy to get
caught up in just trying to understand whats going on and the jokes can be overlooked. Polonius
can be reduced to an annoyance or might even be taken seriously as I did the first time I read
Hamlet. This Polonius actor really did a good job of portraying confidence in folly. An
especially priceless moment was when the actors of this adaptation got a little creative and had
the king and queen kiss while Polonius rambled about nothing, all the while oblivious. This was
a paradigm of the personality of Polonius. You dont see this personal touch in the text. A
physical performance just makes a play more relatable and personal.
One of the most difficult things in preforming Hamlet is trying to preserve the
ambiguity of whether or not the ghost is real. Shakespeare never definitively points to the answer
in the text. Movies or productions that give Hamlet too much proof, or play him off as
schizophrenic, destroy the mystery of the unanswerable questions that have kept us all interested
in Hamlet for hundreds of years. I always feel gipped when directors make the decision for the
audience. It is more true to the spirit of Shakespeare to leave the question open. In this version
none of the characters ever actually look at The Ghost. The Ghost ominously stands behind the
characters completely still and then backs off when leaving. No one directly interacts with The
Ghost they just respond to his voice. It has a really creepy effect and compensates for the lack of
scary makeup or spooky costume. Hamlet also seemed to pass out when The Ghost came as if
he was receiving visions or delusions. I really loved that he collapsed because its so dramatic
and Ive never seen Hamlet collapse in any other adaptation, but it reminds me of something that
would happen in a horror movie.
Shakespeares notion of a play within a play was taken a step further by the fact that the
audience was explicitly watching a play. A lot of the magic of the theatre can act as a window to
different realities. Costumes, sets, and soundtracks can transform a stage into a window to
faraway lands. It can be a great illusion. This was a stage. The few tables were more functional
than suggestive of any place specific and the fact that the actors produced the sound effects in,
and exited to the background and literally brought the backstage on stage. If the point of The
Mousetrap was to pique Claudiuss introspection into his life choices then this play is to pique
our introspection. Shakespeare writes with the intention to do more than just tell an interesting
story. If he were striving to impart morals then he would not have picked something so obvious
as dont murder, nor would he have had the protagonist murder. Shakespeare wanted to leave
us guessing. He wrote mystery. The audience is supposed to look past what is said, and what is
done, and even what they think they see, to try to get to the bottom of it all. The great mysteries
that can never Did Hamlet love Ophelia? Was Gertrude in the wrong? Removing the great
illusion of the theatre is a representation of every audience member trying to remove the illusion
of Hamlets lies or delusions. Just like the Mousetrap forces Claudius to see the truth, the
audience member must try to see the truth.
Seeing The Actors from the Royal Stage perform was a great experience. It was a lovely
performance and seeing it live presented a new way to look at Hamlet. If there is one value
that I hold true for western literature, it is that there is simply no substitute for live performance
in true acculturation to Shakespeare, and that should be said about any of his works. The
costumes, set, comedy, and mystery all were valuable assets to the audience member in
understanding the play. Each element was no less valuable, for if there is authors intent, then
there is directors intent. I recommend seeing Hamlet live. From the hilarity of Polonius, the
interesting costumes, the well portrayed ambiguity to the minimalist set that emphasizes mystery
this performance of Hamlet was a unique and entertaining interpretation of the script by
William Shakespeare.