Review Roundup: Teatro La Plaza's HAMLET Off-Broadway

Theatre For a New Audience is currently presenting Teatro La Plaza's Hamlet through April 4. In this adaptation, Peruvian director Chela De Ferrari intertwines the text of Shakespeare’s Hamlet with the lived experiences of a young ensemble of eight actors with Down syndrome.

With wry humor, playful energy, pop music, and pointed critique, the performers confront the play’s timeless themes—grief, revenge, and existence. Drawing resonant parallels between Shakespeare’s Denmark and our contemporary world, they offer a vision of a more just and joyful imagined future. See what the critics are saying...

Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times: This polished, assured and charming company reminded me how much the pleasure of theater comes not just from the risk of live performance but also from its triumph when it works. This absolutely does. A “Hamlet” that confronts darkness and death, it ends with a dance party, not a stage full of corpses. Joyous revelry is this show’s choice. Never does it take life lightly.

Vahni Kurra, The Front Row Center: Joy is not a word usually associated with Hamlet, but the current production at Theatre For A New Audience brings the two together in shockingly perfect harmony. Teatro La Plaza’s Hamlet is a jubilant dance with mortality and disability (sometimes literally). Written and directed by Chela De Ferrari, this reimagined Hamlet features a cast of eight Peruvian actors with Down syndrome who take turns playing the cursed prince of Denmark and other characters. Through ingenious storytelling, we are invited to shed any preconceived notions about the cast and the bard’s classic play. The result is a glorious reinterpretation unlike any other.

Average Rating: 85.0%