Linklater, Etc. Set for SCR's Hamlet; Sullivan Directs

South Coast Repertory ends the 2006-2007 Season with its first-ever production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.  Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan directs Hamish Linklater in the title role of the most famous play in the English language.  Hamlet will run from May 25 through July 1 on the Segerstrom Stage.  Low-priced previews are available from May 25 through May 31.  Opening night is June 1.  Press night is Saturday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m.  
 
"In 43 years of operation encompassing more than 400 productions, South Coast Repertory has not mounted the masterpiece of Western drama until now, recognizing that success would only be possible with the most perfect team in place.  Luckily, the ideal team has arrived in the form of Hamish Linklater, who starred in SCR's world premiere production of Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour in 2002, and Daniel Sullivan, who has a decades-long history with SCR and is one of the top directors in the American Theater," state press materials.
 
Sullivan has helmed productions of many of the most prominent new American plays of the last ten years, receiving five Tony Award nominations for his efforts.  He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2001 for his production of David Auburn's Proof.  Sullivan's most recent New York outings have SCR connections as well: in 2006 he staged the Broadway production of David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, SCR's first commissioned play to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and he directed the current hit Broadway revival of Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, another South Coast Repertory commission (and Pulitzer Prize nominee) that premiered at SCR in 1988.
 
Hamish Linklater is a familiar face to television audiences from his portrayal of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' slacker brother in the popular CBS situation comedy, "The New Adventures of Old Christine."  The son of the pre-eminent vocal coach Kristin Linklater, whose voice-training system is practiced widely throughout the English-speaking theater, Linklater was exposed to the great plays of the world at an early age.  This is his second go at "the melancholy Dane," having played the role at Connecticut 's Long Wharf Theatre in 2004.  Linklater made his SCR debut in the world premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour in 2002.
 
In addition to Linklater, the cast of Hamlet will feature Robert Foxworth as Claudius, Dakin Matthews (Hitchcock Blonde at SCR) as Polonius, Michael Urie ("Ugly Betty") as Horatio, with SCR regulars Richard Doyle (Ghost) and Hal Landon Jr. (Gravedigger and Player King), and Linda Gehringer (Gertrude). The cast of Hamlet also features Brooke Bloom (Ophelia), Matt D'Amico (Marcellus), David DeSantos (Fortinbras/Cornelius/Player Queen), Graham Hamilton (Laertes), Matthew Henerson (Voltemand/Lucianus), Louis Lotorto (Osric), Henri Lubatti (Rosencrantz) and Jeff Marlow (Guildenstern) with Carrie Darrow, William Landsman, Andrew Matthews and Dillon Tucker.
 
The creative team includes Ralph Funicello (set design), Ilona Somogyi (costume design), Pat Collins (lighting design), Obadiah Eaves (composer/sound design), Robin McFarquhar (fight director), Armando Molina (assistant director), Dakin Matthews and John Glore (dramaturgs) and Jamie A. Tucker (stage manager).

Tickets to Hamlet may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.