Another premiere of a new play in town? Yes, Elsinore comes to us via Prison Performing Arts. Their alumni group, aided by some professional actors, shows off The Chapel’s improved acoustics with this play from David Nonemaker and Eric Satterfield.
It’s the prequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, taking us from Hamlet’s adolescence forward. Shakespeare scholars argue over just how old Hamlet would have been at his demise – sorry if that’s a spoiler, but at least it’s not occurring in this play – but Elsinore covers about fourteen years. And if it does nothing else, it offers an explanation of why Hamlet’s mother and his uncle marry soon after his father’s death. Yeah, it’s always creeped me out, too.
When Elsinore opens, our hero the adolescent Hamlet (Oliver Bacus) has come to his uncle Claudius (Eric Satterfield – one of the authors), full of fire and fury over how his father treats him. He’s not interested, he whines, in settling down and learning how to be a king, he wants to follow his own Best Life. Uncle and nephew truly seem to have a close relationship and when Claudius suggests some time at university for the prince, that seems to be a possible answer. King Hamlet (John Wolbers), ye olde father, whose irritation at his son seems a mile wide and equally deep does agree reluctantly to shipping the young one off. Queen Gertrude (LaWanda Jackson) is more sympathetic to the boy, but can’t do much because of her husband’s bad temper and sharp tongue. And so we have the basic setup, aided by Claudius’ wife Colette (Julie Antonic), pregnant with a much-wanted child, courtier Polonius (David Nonemaker – and here’s the other author), Polonius’ daughter Ophelia (Summer Baer), and the ever-popular Rosekranz (Ryan Lawson-Maeske) and Guildenstern (Joey File), here in the employ of Claudius and sent off to school on his dime to keep an eye on the impulsive prince.
For all its serious ancestry, there’s certainly some humor here. Wolbers’ King Hamlet is mostly, and seemingly quite deliberately, over the top, making us even more sympathetic to the young prince. (And doesn’t it bring vague memories of a similar situation the world may have heard about a few decades ago?) The Nonemaker take on Polonius is a long-winded sycophant with the most deadpan face imaginable. Ophelia, courtesy of Summer Baer and the script, is a Modern Young Woman, interested in learning and willing to speak her mind when encouraged. And File and Lawson-Maeske bring the dynamic duo of R&G to the point of near-giggles.
The language, while Shakespeare-esque, isn’t so hard to follow as the original, for those new to this sort of thing. Particular kudos to Ellie Schwetye, sound engineer for this production, who knows the venue’s quirks well from much work there previously. Erik Kuhn’s lights and Liz Henning’s costumes helped pull it together.
Still, the biggest round of applause needs to go to Christopher Limber, the director and retiring artistic director at PPA, whose good work is surely appreciated.
The play only ran this past weekend, but if it pops up again, as sometimes happens with such things, it’s a worthwhile evening.
Elsinore
Prison Performing Arts
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