Public Theater Cancels Saturday Matinees of HAMLET for 'Welfare of Actors'

The Public Theater's Hamlet, featuring Golden Globe Award winner Oscar Isaac as the tormented Danish Prince, has been running since July, and it's starting to take a toll on its stars. According to The New York Times, the show has canceled all future Saturday matinees.

A Public Theater spokesperson explained: "As an artist-driven organization, the welfare of our actors is always a top priority. Over the last few weeks the intensity that 'Hamlet' requires of our actors over the four-hour show is starting to take a toll."

The complete cast of Hamlet features Roberta Colindrez (Rosencrantz); Ritchie Coster (Claudius); Peter Friedman (Polonius); Oscar Isaac (Hamlet); Keegan-Michael Key (Horatio); Gayle Rankin (Ophelia); Matthew Saldivar (Guildenstern); Charlayne Woodard (Gertrude); and Anatol Yusef (Laertes).

Oscar Isaac returns to The Public in this electrifyingly intimate new production of Shakespeare's eternal drama. Isaac is the prince caught between thought and action, anger and anguish as his uncle assumes the throne left vacant by his murdered father. As the dead king calls to him from the grave, demanding to be avenged, Hamlet is forced to choose between bearing the oppressor's wrong or taking arms against a sea of troubles. Tony Award winner Sam Gold directs theater's most powerful tragedy about life and death, madness and conscience, and corruption-of the state and of the soul.

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg