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!! PICK OF THE FRINGE WINNER !!
Best Experimental Production
Presented as a part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival

“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 (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 and Produced by John Geoffrion
Directed by Sarah Denhardt
Stage Manager - AnnaLaura Wensel McKowen
Sound Design - Ian Armstrong
Fight Choreography - Lorraine Ressegger

CAST
Hamlet (1603 Quarto) - John Robert Keena
Hamlet (1623 Folio) - Matt Volner
Ofelia/Leartes/Corambis - Ty Hallmark
Ophelia/Laertes/Gertrude - Anne Veal
King/Polonius/Ghost - Felipe Cabezas
Queen/Claudius/Player - Anne Nottage

VENUE
The Bodega - at The Trading Post
1013 7th St NW, Washington DC, 20001
(Nearest Metro: • • Mt Vernon Sq/Convention Ctr)
All apologies to disabled patrons, but the Bodega is not wheelchair accessible.

DATES
Saturday July 11 @ 11pm
Sunday July 12 @ 1:15pm
Friday July 17 @ 10:30pm
Sunday July 19 @ 4:45pm
Wednesday July 22 @ 7pm

Tickets
$15 - patrons must buy a $5 button Fringe Festival button first
Order tickets here.
(link deactivated since production has closed)

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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.