Review: HAMLET at Carriage House Players

A giant in Western literature, the challenge in a production of Hamlet isn’t so much keeping the story relevant, but in making the performances convey a new world for the classic.

Evan Donnellan’s production of “Hamlet,” part of the Carriage House Players summer repertory, not only meets that challenge, but creates a delightful internal experiment for the audience to challenge gender norms and re-evaluate how the play unfolds without brute and hasty masculinity being as central.

Mary Caulfield’s costumes were evocative of a romantic era and ruthless in militaristic attire. With Queen Gertrude and Ophelia in flowing gowns, their softness of character and struggle to have a tidy and true love life were shattered with each increasingly bare costume. Ophelia in shades of green mimics her earthly water death.

Indy Johnson as Stage Manager utilized the run ups to the stage, and the general vastness of the performance area, as both previews and epilogues, constantly keeping the action moving. The pacing of the scene changes were not only smooth, but kept the actors’ voices and cadence preserved.

Heather Legnosky’s fight choreography, especially given the open stage surrounded by landscaping and stones was swift but also filled with the air of the unknown as the scripted moves were so well executed that they looked like they could be in the Matrix.

Jae Hughes was a triumphant, brooding, and painfully sullen Hamlet whose command of the stage was electric. From their first appearance at the wedding where they internalize their bitterness and lean against a pillar, Hughes’s eyes pierce through the merriment at the target of his unsettledness. When the bubbly Ophelia embraces Hamlet, they temporarily smile in a forced but wanted way that is a whole play on its own. In contrast to this, when Hamlet tells Ophelia to “Get thee to a nunnery,” Hughes’s lost in their internal madness and compulsion to set their world right.

J. Kelly Caldwell as Claudius brought a charming sense of performance to the character as his boldly expressive laughs and strong affection for Gertrude made his guilt more apparent, tormented. As the plan to ship his problem away to England begins, Caldwell’s Claudius sheds the niceties like snakeskin and reveals the despot that was seething just beneath the surface.

Emily Nadler as Gertrude was a woman trapped in her world despite having a lofty role. Nadler’s shaking voice timbre in the interior scenes of the play belied that fragility that will doom her in the end. When she begs Hamlet to allow the betrayal to continue, Nadler beautifully undermines her role as mother to become the weeping child.

Pamela Shapiro as Ophelia moved across the stage as a flurry of butterflies lost in a new magical forest. Her descent into madness, collecting ghost flowers, was a lovely performance.

Gene Connor as Polonius had the spirit animal of a pangolin (which has been described as looking like it’s delivering bad news to its sovereign lord) in scenes with Claudius, but contrasted with his manipulative treatment of his children. Polonius’s scheming is made pettier by Connor’s bookish ability to convey meaning and foment suspicion of his theories.  

Christina O’Shea as Laertes, with almost kabuki-like make-up culminating into a raisin-hued sharp mouth, was strong, in both his battle and familial devotions. The restrained countenance that falls apart after the death of Ophelia was like the manifestation of madness affecting all of Elsinore.

Mary Peterle as Horatio personified the moral core of the character that sees them through the end. Peterle’s alternately soft and stoical voice developed a resilient sense of trust between Hamlet and Horatio.

Nick Torres as Fortinbras was a commanding presence throughout and especially when the character finally makes it onstage.

Lindsey Cariello as Rosencrantz and Heather Legnosky as Guildenstern were the stand-out performances. The chemistry between one of the most iconic Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum pairings was characterized with great comedic timing by both Cariello and Legnosky. Bespectacled bros, with Vaudevillian costumes combined with the showmanship helped bring out other funny moments of Hamlet even when they weren’t in the scene.

Scott Hofer as the Ghost, Player King, and Gravedigger was mesmerizing in his roles. The reticence of the Ghost presented with Hofer’s piercing eyes was portentous and ominous.

PHOTO CREDIT: DANA TORTORA