Carol Jimenez

LBST 1104
Hamletmaschine
On Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016 I watched UNC Charlottes theatre departments
production of Heiner Mullers Hamletmaschine. Mullers postmodern play explores life under
Communist rule through the use of allusions to Shakespeares famous play Hamlet. It confronts
the past and current social issues, such as gender roles, through various monologues given by the
youths as they try to make sense of them.
Even though I was taken aback by the way the play was presented, eventually I caught on
to the fact that its purpose was to convey social issues through the use of monologues and short
scenes by the actors. A scene that truly resonated with me was the one about Europes
expectations of women in which Ophelia was center stage and passionately talked about the
objectification she and all women experience. Despite these trials and tribulations, Ophelia tells
the audience that she is done killing herself and is beginning to embrace everything about her
that makes her a woman, which reminded me of issues that feminists are currently addressing in
this day and age. The character of Hamlet then goes on to reveal that he wants to be a woman, I
didnt really understand why perhaps because he felt empowered by Ophelias words and
wanted to be able to literally identify with her. It really stood out to me that he was freed of his
manhood by putting on Ophelias dress, that moment was exceptionally captured by the actors
onstage because of the importance it was given: the actors formed a circle around Hamlet as he
undressed himself of his masculine clothing and was then revealed in Ophelias dress. It appears
that this scene also exemplifies the hot button issue of gender identity, even though this play was

written in 1977, I feel as though it can be applied to current issues, which could have Mullers
intention in making this postmodern play.
When selecting which production to watch, I thought I would enjoy this one because I
was a fan of the original Hamlet. That being said, all of my preconceptions of what I thought this
production would be like had a rude awakening. This play was by far the most intriguing,
confusing production I have ever watched. It was nothing like other productions I have been part
of or watched I felt a sense of cluelessness the entire time due to the fact that there was always
so much going on onstage. This is not to say that this play is not held to a high esteem, I am
suggesting it is a nonconventional play it was difficult to discern the plot structure, if there
even was one. I realized that Mullers play was that of the Brechtian or aesthetic distance sort,
which means that it creates a sense of detachment toward the characters onstage, almost keeping
the audience at arms length. Its intention was to provide intellectual engagement and engender
social action in order to make the production stick with its audience members so that they would
act on the social concepts they were exposed to during the production.
This production was performed by an educational amateur theatre on our campus. Due to
the fact that this play is incredibly short without many explicit stage directions, it can be said that
it is open for the directors interpretation on how to best present it to the audience there is no
wrong way to do this because the main ideas lie within the script and the director and actors
choices will only enhance and supplement the concepts the play is attempting to convey.
Although that is true, I believe that the set truly matched the aesthetic aura that exuded from this
absurd play, it was interesting how the unit set was able to apply to every scene even though they
were all distinct in their own ways. I thought it was a nice touch that there was a projected image
on the unit set with the title of the next scene, it served as a way to help the audience get a better

idea of what was going on. The bringing on and removal of props by the technical crew and
actors during scene changes was very efficient and smooth, which assists in keeping the
audiences attention on the new scene as opposed to an awkward scene change. The costumes
accurately matched the time period it was depicting, especially Gertrudes pompous dress and
oversized hat. The artistic choices made for this particular production surely had an underlying
reason even if I couldnt understand their purpose, such as the earsplitting Russian music playing
at a random part of the play.
The actors did a phenomenal job with adding their own twist to this incredibly dense
script. Often times the ensemble is overlooked in productions (trust me, Ive been there), but in
this play it appeared that they were fully committed to their roles and had an equally strong stage
presence as the three Hamlets and Ophelia even though they did not have lines. One thing that
particularly grabs my attention when Im watching a performance is the facial expressions of the
performers and I enjoyed how the ensemble in particular was very engaged in what was
occurring onstage during the scenes. The actress that portrayed Ophelia in this play made her
appear as a strong, independent woman who doesnt need a man, which is most likely what
Muller intended, but it strikes me as interesting because it is the complete opposite her character
in the original Hamlet. At the beginning of the play, I was confused by the three Hamlets, I
didnt realize they were all different versions of Hamlet and I think that it could have been made
more obvious. Even though I didnt fully grasp the purpose of each Hamlet, they each provided
their own interpretation of what that version of Hamlet would be like. Overall, I thought the
actors did an exceptional job with projecting their voices into the audience. I was especially
impressed with the actors that had to present monologues because those seemed like quite a
mouthful, but they were able to articulate their words while remaining in character.

Honestly, I would not watch another play by this playwright. I was very confused through
its entirety, although I suppose that is the point of postmodern plays. Im glad I was exposed to
this new genre of plays, but it is not something I would watch for entertainment purposes.