Breath of fresh air Shakespeare in the Ruins new boss turns the tables in the Bard's most famous tragedy By: Randall King Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, May. 31, 2019

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This article was published 30/05/2019 (1939 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Tis unmanly grief,” says the concerned king, Claudius, of his nephew/adoptive son Hamlet and his persistent gloom following the death of his father.

The line comes early in the tragedy and presents an immediate and interesting rationale for casting a woman — actress Heather Russell-Smith — “gender-occupying” the title role in Shakespeare in the Ruins’ 2019 production.

That kind of casting is not new, mind you. Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet in the 1890s and a procession of modern actresses, from Diane Venora to Ruth Negga, have had a go at it in more recent decades.

But this production, directed by newly-minted SiR artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss, consistently and pointedly skews the gender energies of traditional productions, in which the men get all the fight scenes and women fret and fuss… or go slowly, picturesquely insane.

This is, after all, a contemporary 21st-century interpretation: Both the prince and palace guards are packing pistols, which prove to be just as ineffective as swords when the ghost of Hamlet’s father (Steven Ratzlaff) desperately wanders the halls.

Ghost-dad is seeking to alert Hamlet that Claudius (Skye Brandon) murdered him to acquire both the crown and the bed of Queen Gertrude (Nan Fewchuk). Hamlet then plots revenge while feigning madness, a state of affairs that compels the interference of Claudius’s most trusted counsellor Lady Polonia (Melanie Whyte) who employs her own daughter — and Hamlet’s chaste lover — Ophelia (Reena Jolly) as a pawn in this prototypical game of thrones.

The shift of dynamics makes for a fresh perspective of a centuries-old play, and may actually defuse some of its mustier components. For example, the word “slut-shaming” doesn’t necessarily spring to mind when a female Hamlet confronts Gertrude in her bed-chamber to talk about the Queen’s betrayal.

Look too at Ophelia, traditionally portrayed as a blonde, frail, ephemeral entity. Her “mad scene” in this production presents us with something shockingly different. Jolly’s Ophelia is primal in her emotions, and so violent in her expression, one worries for that actress’s physical well-being.

Director Beilfuss, who himself portrayed Hamlet in a local indie production in 2015 directed by Sarah Constible, brings elements of that past production here, including a cross-cultural cast and a smattering of linguistic representation. (Horatio, played by aboriginal actor Aqqalu, delivers lines at the beginning and end of the play in Oji-Cree.)

Beilfuss brings a big sense of play to the tragedy. The action is often accompanied by musicians who tweak themes with cheeky touches, as when Melissa Langdon plunks out the Simple Minds pop hit Don’t You (Forget About Me) on her violin.

There is a Peter Nygard sight gag, a Keanu Reeves-infused line reading, a Monty Python callback and what may be an unprecedented iteration of the climactic duel between Hamlet and Laertes (Daniel Chen). Beilfuss is unrelenting in his quest to freshen up the rottenness in Denmark, stopping just short of making Hamlet an outright goth chick (probably not a bad idea, really).

It serves to give a necessary shot of theatrical Red Bull to a two-and-a-half hour show (including intermission) that requires the audience to move eight times throughout the ruins of the Trappist Monastery. It flies by.

Terrific performances help. In the other major gender-switched role, Melanie Whyte is notably delightful as the pompous, prattling Polonia.

Russell-Smith brings energy and humour to her Hamlet, and establishes an emotional connection from her first appearance. And yet, this is not a Hamlet for whom you weep at the end. There is, perhaps, an excess of invention at the expense of the play’s dramatic core.

In a setting where you can hear owls hooting during the graveyard scene, Beilfuss could stand to heed Hamlet’s advice to his players, “that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature.”

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing

Randall King
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In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat.

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