Review of Hamlet 1603: The First Quarto (Stella Adler Studio Theater)

Review of Hamlet 1603: The First Quarto (Stella Adler Studio Theater)

By: Audra Martin

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy's Book.

Went to go see Hamlet 1603: The First Quarto at the Stella Adler Studio Theater on Saturday night. Short review: Enjoyable.

I'm no Shakespeare expert. I've seen the movie versions of Hamlet and read it in high school. Read that the version they were doing was slightly different than what people consider the "definitive" version (the 1603 First Quarto refers to the year and format of the manuscript, quarto referring to be way the pages were folded). I wondered if I would be able to tell the difference. Yes, definitely noticeable.

First of all, it is shorter, I think. Also, some of the famous speeches (to be or not to be...) are slightly different. Also the minor, but key characters of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern have slightly different names. The words sounded at some points almost like an earlier draft, which I suppose might be the case. Like I said, I'm no expert.

Enough about the writing, now to the production itself.

The theater is very small, there was no set to speak of, and the actors where street clothes. Hmm, you might think. Doth that a good setup for enjoyable Shakespeare make? You bet.

There are three pieces on the stage that are moved around to serve different purposes throughout. Also, about 6 actors play all of the parts, most of them playing 2-3 parts except for Hamlet. They all where street clothes, using small additions or subtractions to change character. I was pretty impressed with how well they accomplished this, with no set and no wings for exiting and entering the stage. I was also impressed with most of the acting. I thought all of the actors had an excellent handle of the material, which made it so easy to follow and understand and enjoy. Hamlet was superb. He was the most accessible Hamlet I have seen. Seemed much more real and less high-brow, if you know what I mean.

Except for a woman's cell phone that went off not once, but TWICE in the second act (arghhhh), the play was very enjoyable, and for the money ($15), a good deal for cul-tcha in NY. Closes July 29
http://www.newworldtheatre.org/


Small theater (unfortunately small audience)