Review: HAMLET at Avant Bard Theatre

The Avant Bard Theatre’s niche lies in reinventing the classics, and to close out its 35th season, Avant Bard Theatre is taking on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This rendition, directed by artistic associate Kathleen Akerley, uses an abridged original script (with no sign of the Danes) while bending the tone, characters, and scenes with heightened malice and sorrow to explore how grief impacts the story.

The most unique and affecting part of this performance was Hamlet’s characterization. Instead of a clear-headed, righteous, or emotionally repressed martyr that has become Hamlet’s popular disposition, Akerley directed actor Rachel Sanderson to lean into the grief and mania of his unprocessed parental loss. Sanderson flipped her countenance with startling ease and had a delirious conviction to her monologues, emphasizing that Hamlet is not in his right mind after Old Hamlet’s death.

Every other player bent to Hamlet’s will at their detriment and his. The characters worried for and shrank away from him as he acted increasingly erratically. Horatio, played by Kira Gandolfo, was the ever-faithful right-hand man with concern sewn through her brow. To witness a Best Friend so deep in their grief takes a toll on your heart, and when Hamlet died by the poisoned sword, Horatio’s lamenting was a sorrowful final ode to the mad prince.

The gender of some actors was different than their casted characters, which added interest and emphasized the personal strengths of the players more than confining them to roles of their sex. Notably, Lolita Marie played a malicious and brooding Claudius, and Wilem Rogers’s Ophelia was fluttery and reactive when provoked by Hamlet’s abuses, and they would not necessarily have been as successful if they switched roles. This also allowed the cast of eight to fill out the characters through dual- and multi-roling. Each switch was thought out precisely; even Selah Kreeger’s switch from Rosencrantz to Laertes while they were still on stage was clear and purposeful.

Reading Shakespeare’s old English as contemporary actors can present a challenge in finding the correct rhythm; however, Erin Denman as Polonius and Marcellus had accurate, emotive inflection that was the most successful and discernible to the audience. Her tone while chiding her children or conspiring with the monarchs was natural and comedic.

Reading Shakespeare’s old English as contemporary actors can present a challenge in finding the correct rhythm, but Erin Denman as Polonius and Marcellus had accurate, emotive inflection that was the most successful and discernible to the audience. Her tone while chiding her children or conspiring with the monarchs was natural and comedic. 

All scene direction was well-choreographed and enacted, however, the sword choreography was a surprisingly high point of the play. Sanderson and Kreeger had nimble yet powerful control over the swords. When the metal clanged, the audience was excited, and the enchanting fighting was over almost too quickly. 

The variation in costuming made some scenes and setting hard to read: The King and Queen donned blazers and gilded coats, Rogers and Denman as the grave diggers sported flannels that did not change when they were Polonius and Ophelia, and Hamlet layered a jacket, hoodie, and t-shirt which were removed and put on at specific beats. Even if the setting was not the focal point of this rendition, a unity in the costuming would have made the whole production feel more in sync. 

As a cerebral, interpersonal take on a classic tragedy, Kathleen Akerley's Hamlet effectively cut to the heart of grief's devastation. Avant Bard Theatre closes the show's run at the Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two on March 24th. 

Duration: 2 hours and 25 minutes including intermission

Photo credit: Photos courtesy of the production.