Home  Entertainment Reviews “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare
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“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare |
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Written by Barry Gaines
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last updated Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at 13:35:37
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Opening night of “Hamlet” at the Vortex Theater was a superlative evening of theater. Under the intelligent and meticulous direction of Peter Shea Kierst, the finest amateur cast I have seen performed the greatest play in the English language.
Peter Kierst has been fascinated by “Hamlet” most of his life. He played Hamlet twenty-plus years ago and has considered and reconsidered the characters of the play since. He conveyed his vision to his cast. The characters are human, responsive to each other. Despite the carnage at the end, this production focuses on family and humanity. Fathers cradle their children even as they make disastrous choices. Every aspect of Kierst’s production works toward clarity and audience connection with the characters. “Hamlet” is William Shakespeare’s longest play. Kierst cropped unruly plot branches and trimmed florid passages, carefully pruning the script to a manageable length. As a Shakespeare professor, I made a few suggestions. Kierst’s performance text is accessible and focused. Next come the set and costumes. Valeria Rios designed an impressive multi-level set of platforms and steps. Though the walls wobble at times, the stylized set is highly functional in allowing multiple entrances and exits that keep the play moving swiftly. Similarly functional are the timeless costume designs by Erin K. Moots--textured sleeveless vests, white shirts and blouses, and simple slacks or long skirts. Only the metatheatrical Player King and Queen wear renaissance costumes. Enter the actors. Director Kierst was able to attract fine actors for the “small” parts vital to Shakespearean success. Dave McDowell is a moving Ghost. Paul Ford and Catherine Gordon give the Player King and Queen dignity and authority. Bill Derringer is a lovable comic Gravedigger, and Mike Miller a foppish Osric. Rory Cobb brings regal bearing and a powerful baritone voice to Claudius. He is younger than Debi Kierst’s Gertrude, and the two are clearly attracted to each other at the play’s beginning. Debi Kierst ably projects the conflict between her love for her new husband and her love for her son, and she appears to age as the play progresses. Charles Fisher is superb, playing Polonius with subtle intricacy. He is funny, of course, but also warm and humane (though misguided). Pip Lustgarten plays his daughter Ophelia with brittle fragility, her lines not always audible. Her mad scene, however, is convincing and brings tears to the eyes of her brother Laertes, enacted with bluster and tenderness by Daniel Cornish. Acting honors go to Chad Brummett whose Hamlet blazes with energy and is utterly convincing. Brummett’s Hamlet is complex, exhilarating, and sublimely human. The late Joe Papp, who directed all of Shakespeare’s plays at the New York Shakespeare Festival, observed, “You haven’t graduated until you’ve played Hamlet.” Seldom have graduation ceremonies been more entertaining or profound. If You Go WHAT: “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare WHEN: Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 6 p.m. through April 16 WHERE: The Vortex Theatre, 2004 Central, SE HOW MUCH: $12. Reservations 247-8600
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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