30/09/2024
Before the summer ended, I went to Delafield, WI for the first time to catch HAMLET at SummerStage of Delafield. What a delightful theatre in a state park! Yes, outdoors like the Greek gods intended.
One of my undergraduate friends, Jeff, was playing the Ghost đť/Player King đ/Grave Digger đ combo, and as it turned out, our mutual friend Paul was flying in from Canada to visit Jeff for a week, so obviously I went the same night as Paul.
You see, the three of us used to take the bus with our College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University theatre classmates (the Acting classes, the Theatre History classes, and Theatre Appreciation) from central MN to see shows in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We would spend the ride back discussing the shows and dreaming about what roles weâd like to play one day (at least for Paul and me because we were majoring in the performing arts; Jeff was on the poli-sci track and in choir and in the Theatre Appreciation class). If you had told us that ***22 years later*** one of us would be on stage with the other two sitting front row center cheering them on, we would not have guessed that Paul and I would be watching Jeff slay in HAMLET, but somehow it all seemed very full circle.
This script cutting of HAMLET was really well done, hitting all the important points while keeping the run time to about 2 ½ hours. I discovered things from this HAMLET that I had never seen in all the times I've watched it on stage or screen. I've mostly seen Hamlet portrayed as a very mopey and wounded character, whereas this Hamlet was very clearly duplicitous and playing everyone with clear intention, as opposed to incidentally.
Zach Thomas Woodsâ performance as Hamlet was so dynamic and very physical. He was RUNNING around that set. I loved how Hamlet used all the levels and playing space on the stage, and I can only imagine how exhausted the actor was after every performance. And this Hamlet was very b***y and milked the jokes on country matters, etc! đ I don't remember HAMLET (the play or the character) being so funny. Paul and I especially enjoyed Hamlet's single sarcastic clap during the Gertrude/Claudius nuptial celebration because we both love some epic shade.
When Jeff finally spoke his lines as the Ghost, a voice came out of him that neither Paul nor I had ever heard before, and we were like âwho is that?!â Jeff made all of his characters very different in voice and manner, and it was clear he understood all of his lines, which means *we* understood all of his lines. (If youâve seen enough Shakespeare, you know what I mean.) But Jeff was one of the strongest actors on that stage. Jeff revealed after the show that the directorâs intention was to have elements of Hamlet's father present in the two other characters. Yes to a dramaturgical through line!
The costumes were so fun and leaned Elizabethan to place us in in the world of the play. I love a crescent shoulder roll and trunk hose. The sword play was good. Ophelia's monologue into madness was incredibly strong.
The set for the gravedigger scene was so clever! The cover from one of the landings on the stairs came off so the gravedigger could be standing inside the grave. And I got to hear Jeff sing again, which hasnât happened since I saw him in his undergraduate a capella group. So that was a pleasant surprise.
It was a great night of Shakespeare, friendship, and nostalgia for me. Thank you and bravi to all!
