Posted: Friday, June 3, 2005 10:00 pm
In ACT's production of 'Hamlet,' the question is 'To be, or not to be' contemporary
By Heather Crabtree/Photos by Scobel Wiggins
The Entertainer
Multi-generational conflict and political turmoil are not new concepts. They've plagued the human race throughout time, and are present in plays dating from the heyday of Rome through the dawn of the 21st century.
Albany Civic Theater's production of "Hamlet," which opens at 8 p.m. Friday, June 10, will bring this classic into the 21st century by focusing on the human aspects of characters.
Additional performances will be at 8 p.m. June 11, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30 and July 1 and 2, with matinee performances at 2:30 p.m. Sundays, June 19 and 26.
"The kinds of conflicts that Shakespeare wrote about are the same that go on today," said Mark Summers, the play's director and ACT acting veteran. "There is a usurp of power, challenge of authority, deception, all the things that make for any political drama - and of course, a grab for power."
Summers has edited the script to accommodate the modern audience by cutting scenes that he felt could be removed "without losing the center of the story.
"I didn't cut the well-known pieces and I didn't cut the humanity from it; it's all still there," he said.
He's also infused a lot of humor into the play.
"It's not a dreary three hours in the theater," he said. "It's lively and funny at parts and touching at others."
Shakespearean purists shouldn't worry too much about the director's edits - the Englishman's dialogue has come through the modernization process mostly unscathed. The exception is a couple of words that are no longer used, which he changed to modern forms.
The cast for ACT's production is: Damian Arlyn as Hamlet; Bill Brown as Claudius; Pat Kight as Gertrude; Calvin Ward as Polonius; Dean Keeling as Laertes; Sarah Edminster as Ophelia; Paul Watts as Horatio; Bonnie McFee as Francisco; Russ Roberts as Bernardo; Harriet Nixon as Marcellus; John Carone as Rosencrantz; Ken Dickason as Guildenstern; Mirinda Keeling as Voltimand; John Baur as Player King; Amaya Egusquiza as Player Queen; Sarika Rao as Lucianus/prologue; Patrick Cox as Fortinbras; Anne Tarasawa as Norwegian captain/messenger; Jodi Altendorf as queen's gentlewoman; Kyler Barton as servant; Michael Brugger as first sailor (pirate); Craig Currier as first clown (gravedigger), and Miles Fletcher as second clown (gravedigger's assistant).
If you go
What: Albany Civic Theater's production of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet."
When: June 10, 11, 17, 18, 19 *, 23, 24, 25, 26*, 30, July 1, 2. Regular show time is 8 p.m. *Sunday matinees begin at 2:30 p.m..
Where: Albany Civic Theater, 111 First Ave. S.W., Albany.
Tickets: $9 for adults; $6 for over 60 and under 18. Tickets can be purchased at Sid Stevens Jewelers, 140 S.W. First Ave., Albany; Rice's Pharmacy, 910 N.W. Kings Blvd., Corvallis, or ACT box office before the show.