You may know William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," but you probably don't know it as well as you think you do. Or at least that is what Montgomery Fellow Richard Schechner would like you to believe.
Schechner's theater group, East Coast Artists, will perform a somewhat atypical version of "Hamlet" this weekend at the Hopkins Center which, according to the Schechner, is inspired by Hamlet's complaint, "The time is out of joint."
In an interview with The Dartmouth Wednesday, Schechner said the production is different from other "Hamlets" over the past two decades through its use of juxtaposing time periods in a single performance. The production's costume styles range from Elizabethan dress to modern attire. In addition, the performance includes pop culture images opposing objects and materials from the 18th and 19th centuries.
For example, Paula Murraycole, the actress who plays Ophelia, told The Dartmouth that her character is reminiscent of Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz." Also, Gertrude (Hamlet's mother) has qualities suggestive of halter dress-wearing Marilyn Monroe with a Betty Boop voice. Murraycole said her Ophelia starts off appearing as an older woman with a young heart, but later turns into Polonius's fantasy version of Ophelia - a provocative, mature sex object.
The change is "illustrating an inferiority of character," she said. "We're exploring a pretty complex world."
Schechner said in deciding how to interpret "Hamlet," he wanted to create a performance that challenged traditional productions of the play.
"What is fascinating about theater is the ongoing negotiation - sometimes static, sometimes tense - among the play's text, the social text, the personal text and my own directorial text," Schechner said.
In deciding on a version of a "Hamlet" script, he settled on using an edited script built from the 1603 First Quarto and the 1623 First Folio versions. These versions of the script are still pure Shakespearean prose, but contain lines not often heard in traditional renderings of the text.
"People hear but don't listen," Schechner said. He said he thinks that using the non-traditional texts will make audiences listen to and interpret his version of Hamlet more carefully and actively, because they are so accustomed to the more-often played versions.
"We don't need to tell the traditional story," he said.
For example, in the First Quarto, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are known as Rossencraft and Guilderstone. Due to their craftiness, Schechner decided to have the actors play the characters in furry rat costumes, complete with long tails.
Schechner said his interpretation also deals with issues of race. The character of Hamlet, who is played by African-American George Hannah, can be interpreted on many new levels because of the color of his skin, according to Schechner.
He said Hannah's performance explores what happens when "Africans behave like Africans."
In modern culture, "It's okay to be Bryant Gumble, but it's not okay to be Mike Tyson," Schechner said. He said Hannah acts out various modern stereotypes while performing Hamlet's traditional lines. Undoubtedly, Schechner wants to challenge audiences' standard readings of "Hamlet."
"This play exists in our cultural memory, and I want to disturb the memories," he said. Those interested if he succeeds can find out in the Moore Theater tonight and tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m.
