Daring to put impulse before perfection, eight actors embraced process by devising HAMLET in one week.
A small ensemble from around the world came together the last week of August to put their Shakespearean expertise to the test. A week-long collaborative rehearsal process culminated in two free public performances on August 27 + 28, 2022 at LA MAMA SHARES in NYC. Take a look at what we did, below.
SIZZLE REEL
PHOTOS
And please visit this gallery of behind-the-scenes, process photos, taken by Ashley Garrett Photography.
What our audiences thought…
“It was definitely the clearest Hamlet production I’ve seen in terms of the story, character motivation and physical action. You were all so engaging to watch on stage, created truthfully moment to moment - and the expressions that came out were so incredibly life-like and full of humor!! You weren’t playing it, you were being it.”
“Hilary Dennis made magic happen in La MaMa’s basement. Assembling a crack team of dedicated actors to furnish a do-it-yourself take on Hamlet in a week’s time with limited resources is no small feat. Such an ambitious undertaking can end as messily and unhappily as the play itself. Not only did Dennis present a coherent and professional result, it was everything we want in a new Hamlet. In the tradition of Branagh (and with similar hair!), she produced and starred in the show herself. Her Dane stood out for poise and candor, putting her in the lofty company of Michelle Terry and Maxine Peake. The show was bare-bones in the most intimate way, the stakes were relevant and immediate, and the audience was pulled into the timeworn material. There’s no exaggeration to say that, in a crowded field, it was the best Hamlet of the year on the New York stage. Unlike our indecisive prince, Dennis has a brilliant future ahead.”
-Lonely Christopher, Artistic Director of Inter Poets Theater
“It was also cool in the playbill to read that this one-week prep is actually a 400-year-old practice!!!! So cool! ”
“The pacing was excellent and the streamlined text managed to capture the flow of the plot without sacrificing the beauty of the language. Acting was alive and connected. And you found the humor amidst the tragedy. A palpable hit! ”
“Hilary Dennis’s Hamlet is the clearest and funniest (per the text) production I’ve ever seen. Shakespeare is perhaps the finest writer of universal stories in the English language, but even the greatest text needs a great storyteller, and Ms. Dennis is such an artist.
Her interpretation of the intricacies of the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia – and exactly how Gertrude enters the triangle – is perhaps not unique in the literature, but it is the most viscerally clearly presented, and is the one that makes the tightest and most poignant story from the text. Hamlet’s “antic disposition” may have been conceived as an affect, but watching that affectation grow to consume him – and shape the entire arc of the play – is an emotional wonder to behold, both as a theatergoer and as a student of human nature.
That the production was spartan may have been a practical necessity, but it was also an essential element of the storytelling. Nothing to look at but humans interacting, the most powerful emotional engagement. I can’t imagine how more expensive costumes and a full, visually credible set would have enhanced the core experience.
One can only hope that this amazing production, put together in a week with a two-show run, will have future incarnations, and many, many siblings.”
-Tom Marshall, Software Engineer at Bloomberg, LP