!! PICK OF THE FRINGE WINNER !!
Best Experimental Production
Presented as a part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival
Best Experimental Production
Presented as a part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival
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PRAISE FOR ORIGINAL PRODUCTION
“A Fringe Must-See ... tremendous fun...” “Bottom line? The notion that all the best writing is re-writing gets an admirably lucid, singularly entertaining proof here.” — Trey Graham, CityPaper “What could easily have come off as an intellectual exercise is given flesh — and not the too too solid kind — by a script that doesn’t merely note the differences between the text, but gets them to comment on one another. Smart, deft and fully realized.” — Glen Weldon, CityPaper (same article, see comments) “[an] absorbing experiment... fun for Shakespeare Geeks... diverting, dextrous, fascinating” — Chris Klimek, DCist “Bad Hamlet ... is sure to impress you, as it did us.” — Kaysha Gurell, DCist "Bad Hamlet is incredibly interesting... powerful and wonderful to watch" — Jessica Pearson, DCTheatreScene “This is definitely a must see if you are a Shakespeare junkie like me” -- Two Hours Traffic blog |
Adapted by John Geoffrion
Directed by Daniel Bourque Fight Choreography - Danielle Rosvally CAST Red = Characters from 1603 Quarto Green = Characters from 1623 Folio Hamlet - Ryan MacPherson Hamlet - Kevin Paquette Ofelia/Leartes/Player - April Singley Ophelia/Laertes/Gertrude - Isabel Dollar King/Polonius/Ghost (and Fight Captain) - Liz Adams Queen/Claudius/Corambis - Dana Block VENUE Mathewson Street Theatre 134 Mathewson St, 4th Fl, Providence RI 02903 DATES Tuesday July 26 @ 7pm Wednesday July 27 @ 7pm Saturday July 30 @ 9pm Tickets - $5 at door |
Hamlet vs Hamlet:
TWO BE OR NOT TWO BE NO HOLDS BARD |
BAD HAMLET is an experimental performance piece, initially developed in 2006 as a graduate class exercise, that explores the similarities and differences between the two published versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet: the familiar version published in the 1623 Folio, and the unauthorized "Bad" Quarto published in 1603. The latter, a shorter, leaner, less poetic version of the story, has only recently been given its due. But simply to perform the Bad Quarto isn't enough: how do the two versions compare, complement or contrast with one another? Reading only gives the merest hint; Shakespeare’s plays were written to be performed, and thus we’ll take this literary comparison to the stage.
BAD HAMLET is a condensed, stereoscopic version of Hamlet in which the two texts are performed simultaneously; sometimes overlapping, sometimes in a Shakespearean 'tennis match,' with two Hamlets, two Ophelias, two Gertrudes, two Claudii, two Polonii, two Laerteses, and the Quarto's Player and Ghost, all under an hour, performed by a cast of six in a minimalist setting. As a stereoscope takes two nearly similar photographs and combines them to create a 3D image, our goal - by simultaneously performing two versions of the same play - is for the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in the two texts to create a meta-Hamlet that provides additional depth and dimension to the emotions, motivations, and poetry of one of the greatest works of English literature. |