VALERIE TERRANOVA PHOTOGRAHY
Valerie Terranova as Hamlet, at Luna Stage in West Orange.
“Hamlet” can be daunting. It is William Shakespeare’s longest play, and has more than 30 characters. It is widely considered one of The Bard’s greatest and most profound plays, and it contains some of his most famous lines (starting with the title character’s “To be or not to be …” soliloquy). For centuries, ambitious actors of every generation have taken on the role of the tortured Danish prince, almost as if it were a rite of passage.
Luna Stage in West Orange is now premiering a purposely non-daunting version of the play, abridged and directed by Rajesh Bose, who streamlines it to 13 characters (played by three female and two male actors) and tells the story in a fast-moving, intermission-less 90 minutes.
Even with all the actors (except for Valerie Terranova, as Hamlet) playing more than one character, it was easy to keep track of the many character changes, and the flow of the action. Bose and all involved deserved credit for maintaining the essence of the play while also making it as accessible as possible.
This is especially valuable at a time when the play’s evocation of the tragic havoc caused by selfish, reckless rulers may resonate particularly strongly with audiences; and when Shakespeare neophytes may be curious about the play, given the popularity of the movie “Hamnet.”
Obviously, purists may object to the cutting of minor characters and subplots. But that seems to me a small price to pay for an experiment that, for the most part, works.
VALERIE TERRANOVA PHOTOGRAPHY
Valerie Terranova as Hamlet, with Lucas Pinner as Claudius, in “Hamlet.”
Bose and scenic designer Julia Mansur use an in-the-round layout; especially in a small theater like Luna Stage, this helps create a sense of intimacy. Diaphanous curtains create some atmosphere, and give Polonius (played by Drew Hirshfield) a place to fatefully hide. Brief strands of ominous music also help set the mood.
The garrulous Polonius comes off a bit cartoonishly, as do Hamlet’s colorfully dressed buddies Rosencrantz (also Hirshfield) and Guildenstern (Erica Knight). But Valerie Terranova conveys Hamlet’s gravitas and angst effectively, and delivers his soliloquies flawlessly, and Knight conveys the heartbreaking fragility and madness of Ophelia. Lucas Pinner makes for a suitably glowering and unsympathetic Claudius, and brings commanding power to the Ghost’s speech beseeching Hamlet to revenge “Murder most foul, as in the best it is/But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.” Lisa VillaMil fawns over Claudius as Gertrude, his wife (and Hamlet’s mother), and provides stalwart support to Hamlet as his confidant, Horatio.
Actors — including Knight, who plays Laertes as well as Ophelia — sometimes portray two characters in a single scene; Bose comes up with some clever ways to make this work. And he incorporates audience members into the action in order to be able to stage the play-within-a-play.
VALERIE TERRANOVA PHOTOGRAPHY
Drew Hirshfied as Rosencrantz, with Erica Knight as Guildenstern, in “Hamlet.”
It is unavoidable, but in boosting the appeal for modern audiences, something is indeed lost. Part of what makes “Hamlet” “Hamlet” is its length — its complicated plot twists, its diversions, its dead ends. A full-length “Hamlet” is a winding road; this “Hamlet” is a breathless sprint. The sense of Hamlet being lost in depression and anger and disappointment in the ways of the world — coming off as a confused, lost young man, a self-described “dull and muddy-mettled rascal” — doesn’t really come across.
This is a powerful Hamlet, who suffers a wound to his soul and fights back, without much time for hesitation, or propensity to it.
Due to the beauty of Shakespeare’s language and the skill of the actors, it all still works. And it may, you could argue, be a better fit for modern times, as it connotes, as a message on the Luna Stage website eloquently puts it, “the urgency of a world where something deeply corrupt has taken hold — and everyone seems willing to carry on as if nothing is wrong.”
Luna Stage in West Orange will present “Hamlet” through March 8. Visit lunastage.org.
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