Hamlet

Something fresh in the state of Denmark
BYLINE: PAULA CITRON
SECTION: THE GLOBE REVIEW; THEATRE: REVIEW; Pg.
The Prince Hamlet
Why Not Theatre
Directed by Ravi Jain
Written by William Shakespeare
Starring Philip Graeme, Matthew Bulgo and Will O'Hare
At Winchester Street Theatre in Toronto until Oct. 21 (416-262-3198)
***
Director Ravi Jain has created an astonishingly absorbing piece of theatre for his first Toronto show. The Prince Hamlet is his rethink of Shakespeare's great play and his tinkering is bold and brash. Even for people who have seen one Hamlet too many, this production will surprise and delight.
All have roots in Paris's École Jacques Lecoq, one of the world's great bastions of physical theatre training. The Lecoq philosophy is "tout bouge!" (everything moves), meaning that creative dramatic interpretation is defined through visual expression in which text, gestures and the universal laws of movement are inescapably intertwined.
It is not that Jain, with Bugaj as assistant director, has physicalized Shakespeare's words per se. Rather, at judicious moments, he inserts precise movement or gestures to highlight action or create subtext. His treatment is more fresh than radical, and The Prince Hamlet zips along for two unbroken hours without one dull moment.
At the heart of this production is the reconfiguration of the text itself.
Jain's modus operandi has been the convention of flashback. For example, rather than hear Ophelia (Kathryn Merry) tell Polonius (Rory Sheridan) what Hamlet (Philip Graeme) said to her, which then Polonius relates to Claudius (Sean Donovan) and Gertrude (Liz Pounsett), the director dissolves the storytelling scenes into the action scenes and back again.
Similarly, Hamlet's actual encounters with Rosencrantz (Findsen) and Guildenstern (Will O'Hare) are intercut with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's description of them to Hamlet's mother and uncle/stepfather. This might be heresy, but Jain's interpolation of action scenes with description scenes makes for a better play. More to the point, the well-known, hoary set speeches are better embedded in the text because we never know where they are going to show up.
Jain begins his production at the end, with the first part of the emotionally charged speech of Horatio (Matthew Bulgo) to Fortinbras outlining how the tragedy unfolded. As a monologue/prologue, it works very well, particularly as Horatio is surrounded by a plethora of dimly lit dead bodies. The ending returns full circle to one abrupt and provocative line that Horatio throws to the audience. "What is it you would see?"
The title The Prince Hamlet describes Jain's focus. All scenes unrelated to the prince are eliminated and central to everything is his plight of how to cope with the news of his father's murder. In fact, Hamlet's indecision as a young man who must enact revenge but who also has a moral conscience becomes clearer through Jain's process,.
Other pleasant surprises abound in the production. The ghost of Hamlet's father is an ominous Greek chorus of all the actors. In two scenes involving the arras, we hear those being watched behind the curtain while we see the watchers. The simple set of movable boxes by Frank Macauliff and Findsen is beautifully lit by Gina Scherr, with Reza Jacobs and Andy Gillis providing a suitable musical soundscape based on mood. Kelsey Hart's cleverly chosen modern dress fits each character superbly.
The one fault line in the production is the uneven acting of the international cast that spans four countries, but it says something about The Prince Hamlet that it is greater than the sum of its parts. As well, the use of strobe lights to create snapshots also seems passé.
Among the actors, however, Graeme, Bulgo and O'Hare are excellent. All three have a wonderful command of Shakespearean language. The charismatic, sexy Graeme is a Hamlet with bite. He is strongly motivated in both his sincerity and his vacillation, and every scene he is in rings true. Bulgo is truly sympathetic without resorting to melodrama, while O'Hare, who plays five roles, can seemingly interpret any character with conviction. A very good performance also comes from Sheridan as pompous, prolix Polonius, while Merry does a sweet job as his daughter.
Unfortunately, Aron De Casemaker (Laertes) and Donovan either garble their words or throw away lines. Findsen has trouble getting around his Danish accent in his several roles, while the surprisingly weak Pounsett almost makes Gertrude invisible.
That being said, Why Not Theatre is a great addition to the Toronto scene because clearly whatever Jain and his cohorts put on stage will be unpredictable.