FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

Contact:
John
Hudson

Tel:
(212)
769
9537,
(347)
334
0826

Email:
JohnHudson41@gmail.com



11/7/2010
THE
WORLD’S
FIRST
ALLEGORICAL
PRODUCTION
OF
HAMLET



The
Dark
Lady
Players,
the
world’s
only
allegorical
Shakespeare
company,
presents
Hamlet’s

Apocalypse,
a
black
comedy
showing
that
Hamlet
is
a
comic
Jewish
parody
of
the
Book
of

Revelation
(the
last
book
of
the
Christian
Bible
which
predicts
the
coming
of
Doomsday).

Direction
is
by
Jenny
Greeman,
whose
production
of
Screenplay
won
the
‘Outstanding

Production
Award’
at
the
2010
Midtown
International
Theater
Festival.
This
production
opens

on
7
November
for
three
nights
at
8pm
at
Manhattan
Theatre
Source,
177
MacDougal
Street,

New
York
NY
10011.
Tickets
$18,
reservations
866‐811‐4111.



This
allegorical
meta‐theatrical
production
by
the
Dark
Lady
Players
takes
place
on
Doomsday.

Against
the
background
of
the
seven
great
trumpet
blasts
in
the
script,
which
echo
the
seven

trumpets
of
the
Book
of
Revelation,
all
the
characters
appear
as
religious
parodies.
The
Anti‐
Christ
(Hamlet)
and
son
of
the
Devil
(King
Hamlet)
kills
Christ
(Laertes)
and
God
the
Father

(Polonius).
The
Virgin
Mary
(Ophelia)
tries
to
help
by
rising
into
heaven
as
the
Woman
Crowned

with
the
Sun,
but
falls
into
the
water
and
drowns.
Hamlet
then
kills
his
own
family‐‐‐from
the

tribe
of
Dan(mark),
the
tribe
of
the
Anti‐Christ‐‐namely
the
Whore
of
Babylon
(Gertrude)
and

the
Seven
Headed
Beast
of
the
Apocalypse
(Claudius)
before
dying
himself.
Artistic
Director
John

Hudson
is
speaking
about
the
production
at
CUNY/City
College,
at
3.30
on
November
4th
at

Simon
H.
Rifkind
Center,
CUNY,
City
College
of
New
York,
138
Convent
Avenue,
New
York
10031.



Founded
in
2006,
The
Dark
Lady
Players
perform
the
underlying
allegories
in
the
Shakespearean

plays,
showing
that
they
are
comic
religious
satires.
This
raises
a
profound
question
about
how

such
parodies
could
have
got
into
the
plays,
which
leads
to
the
latest
authorship
theory,
that
a

major
author
of
the
plays
was
the
Dark
Lady,
the
Jewish
experimental
poet
Amelia
Bassano

Lanier.

Based
on
our
work,
the
Shakespearean
Authorship
Trust
in
the
UK
in
2007
listed
Lanier

as
one
of
the
leading
authorship
candidates.
In
2009
The
Oxfordian,
the
leading
journal
on

authorship
studies,
published
‘Amelia
Bassano
Lanier;
A
New
Paradigm’
by
John
Hudson,
making

her
one
of
the
top
four
likely
authorship
candidates.




Dramaturgy
is
by
John
Hudson,
the
Artistic
Director
and
Founder
of
the
Dark
Lady
Players.
He

has
an
M.A.
in
Shakespeare
and
Theatre
from
the
Shakespeare
Institute
of
the
University
of

Birmingham,
the
world’s
leading
center
for
Shakespearean
scholarship.

His
articles
on
the
Dark

Lady
Players’
productions
of
Midsummer
Night’s
Dream
and
of
Shakespeare’s
parodies
of
the

Virgin
Mary
are
published
in
the
Birmingham
Journal
of
Language
and
Literature.

For
this

production
Hudson
has
expanded
upon
original
scholarship
by
Chris
Hassel
in
his
article
on

Ophelia
being
interrupted
by
Hamlet
as
a
parody
of
the
Annunciation
to
Mary,
and
the
book
by

Linda
K.
Hoff

titled
Hamlet’s
Choice;
A
Reformation
Allegory,
which
was
described
in
the
South

Atlantic
Review
as
showing
that
“standard
readings
of
Hamlet
may
have
missed
the
mark…its

central
meaning
has….been
hidden
to
intelligent
readers
for
centuries”.




Cast
members
Alexandra‐Cohen
Spiegler
(Hamlet),
Mimi
Hooper
(Ophelia)
and
Lindsay
Tanner

(Old
Hamlet/Laertes)
graduated
in
Shakespearean
acting
from
the
Royal
Academy
of
Dramatic

Art
(RADA).
Cast
members
Bella
Poynton
(Horatio)
and
Megan
McGrath
(Polonius)
graduated
in


Shakespearean
acting
from
the
London
Academy
of
Music
and
Dramatic
Art
(LAMDA).
Associate

Director
Stephen
Wisker
has
an
MFA
in
Directing
Shakespeare
from
the
University
of
Essex,

trained
at
the
Royal
National
Theatre's
Studio
Directors
Course,
and
formerly
taught

Shakespeare
at
the

Atlantic
Acting
School/
NYU
Tisch
School.





The
women‐only
company,
the
Dark
Lady
Players,
are
the
only
allegorical
Shakespeare
company

anywhere
in
the
world.
Their
work
has
been
featured
in
news
articles
in
Italy,
Israel,
India,

Vietnam,
Canada,
and
the
UK.

In
summer
2010
Reform
Judaism
magazine,
the
world’s
largest

Jewish
magazine
(circulation
500,000)
devoted
a
six
page
cover
story
to
their
work,
titled

‘Unmasking
Shakespeare’
by
Michael
Posner,
the
arts
journalist
for
the
Globe
and
Mail.



This
production
is
funded
by
the
Halbreich
Foundation,
dedicated
to
supporting
social

transformation
and
interfaith
understanding.
This
is
their
first
grant
to
an
arts
group
and
has

been
made
to
promote
inter‐religious
dialogue.
More
detail
about
the
production
is
available
on

the
Dark
Lady
Players’
website
:
http://www.darkladyplayers.com/hamlet_apocalypse.htm

and
daily
updates
on
the
production
are
available
on
Facebook
page
visit:

http://www.facebook.com/darkladyplayers
For
tickets
to
the
show
visit:

https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/776395