Michael Khalid Karadsheh (front) and the cast of Hamlet. Photo courtesy of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it”
St. Louis Shakespeare Festival is celebrating their 25th anniversary with Shakespeare’s legendary Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. With its meditations on justice, mortality, and the very nature of existence, Hamlet is heavy. A talented cast, innovative set design, and some dark Shakespearean magic make this story compelling and relatable 400-plus years after its first performance.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hamlet (Michael Khalid Karadsheh), crown prince and next in line to the throne, is brooding over his father’s sudden and mysterious death. His mother, Gertrude (Jennifer Ikeda), urges Hamlet to move on—his father’s funeral was two whole months ago! Hamlet’s sour mood really put a damper on Getrude’s wedding to his uncle, Claudius (Glenn Fitzgerald).
One evening, a castle guard sees something that should not be there: King Hamlet (Larry Paulsen), the prince’s father. He is trapped between worlds because of his unjust and unnatural death. The ghost later appears to Hamlet and reveals the truth: Claudius poisoned the late king, seduced his wife, and claimed the throne for himself.
Hamlet, consumed with rage and paranoia, hatches an elaborate scheme to avenge his father. The jealous and equally paranoid Claudius takes counter measures, enlisting Hamlet’s childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Mitchell Henry-Eagles and CB Brown) as his unwitting spies. His lover, Ophelia (Sarah Chalfie), her father, Polonius (Mark Nelson), and her brother, Laertes (Vaughn Pole), are all pulled into the spiral of murder and madness. Meanwhile, the nation faces an outside threat from another prince bent on revenge: Fortinbras (Charlie Mathis), crown prince of Norway, whose father was slain by Hamlet’s father. Few will survive the unfolding tragedy; the survivors must bear witness and somehow make sense of it all.
Hamlet is rightly considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Echoes of Hamlet can be heard throughout pop culture; how many Batman stories explore the gray morality of vigilante justice? The story may be convoluted, but its complex title character is one of Shakespeare’s best. He also has some of Shakespeare’s greatest lines. Audiences will instantly recognize classics like “frailty, thy name is woman” and that most famous of rhetorical questions—“To be, or not to be?”
Karadsheh’s Hamlet swings from sharp-witted prankster to fiery avenging angel, but he is always passionate, articulate and fully committed. Meanwhile, Ms. Chalfie gives poignancy and dignity to emotionally abused Ophelia. She is torn by her belief in Hamlet and her loyalty to her family. Her departure from the stage is a powerful symbol of Hamlet’s lost innocence and the love-killing hate that corrupts as surely as any poison.
The dark, foreboding atmosphere is momentarily lifted with some comic relief. Nelson’s Polonius might be stuffy, oblivious, and underhanded, but he does have some constructive criticism for the play-within-a-play. Paulsen has an eerie, commanding presence as the ghost; later, he gets some of the biggest laughs as the rustic gravedigger, the only one who speaks sense to these incredibly messy Danish nobles.
The timeless story is given a contemporary twist through ingenious set design. The stage resembles a high-end European resort, with the royal family dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos. Its elaborate design allows for some clever scenic changes. At times, the set creates a sense of space—a loft becomes the caste ramparts, a courtyard becomes a graveyard—which helps audiences to better comprehend the scale of the tragic story. At other times, the set is uncomfortably intimate—the queen’s bedchamber, set on a moving platform, seems to symbolize Hamlet’s claustrophobic paranoia and his alienation from his friends and family. Haunting music from local band leader Brady Lewis and composer Brandon Wolcott enhances the funereal atmosphere.
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark will be performed at 8:00 PM at Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park (6604 Fine Arts Dr.) from now until June 22nd. Performances take place on every day except Monday. Admission is free, but this reviewer highly recommends a donation, some baubles from the merch stand, and some libations from the refreshment booth. Reservations can be made at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival website. You can bring your own beer and your own chair, or you can have the authentic groundling experience.
If you’re in the mood for lighter fare, come to the Festival’s next two shows: Romeo and Zooliet, a family-friendly retelling with Capulets and Montagues swapped for carnivores and herbivores. It has a real Zootopia vibe, and promises to be much cleverer than Gnomeo and Juliet. The touring show, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, begins August 19th. Either one should be a fine chaser to the melancholic, misanthropic poison brew of Hamlet. | Rob Von Nordheim
For more information, visit stlshakes.org.
