Psychologists Bring Insights to Stage
"Was Hamlet depressed or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder? Would Medea, who turned a vengeful hatred for her ex-husband toward her own children in the ancient Greek tragedy, be diagnosed today with borderline personality disorder? How would other heroes or anti-heroes, fare on today’s therapeutic coaches?
In creating a new theater company, Boston’s Psych Drama, clinical psychologist Wendy Lippe, Ph.D., decided to use the theater as a way to both take a closer look at the psychology behind these classic and classical plays and to give audiences insight into their own psyches. Starting with a modern take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” this past November, the company plans to re-interpret these ancient and well-loved texts for a modern audience, from a psychological viewpoint. In addition, each performance will be followed with a talk for the general public given by a local psychologist on the themes of each show."
- Catherine Robertson Souter, New England Psychologist
Read More >
Psych Drama Company Puts Plays On Analyst’s Couch
"On stage she wears ripped jeans and a red bustier. There’s a gun. Lippe delivers Hamlet’s tortured soliloquies facing one of the huge mirrors, with her back to the audience. There’s something strange and powerful about it. At the end of the play the psychologist/actor chooses to leave one mirror exposed. It’s for Horatio, the last man standing in this tragedy.
But, Lippe says, it’s also for the audience."
-Andrea Shea, WBUR
Brookline Psychologist Takes On Hamlet
"Wendy Lippe spends her days dissecting the deepest crevices of her patients’ psyches. At night, she becomes Hamlet, inhabiting the tortured mind of Shakespeare’s famous prince."
-Teddy Applebaum, Brookline TAB
A Damned Fine Hamlet
"We (my daughter Elayna, sindrian, gwynraven, and myself) saw the new Hamlet from the Psych Drama Company at the Boston Center for the Arts last night.
Folks, this was amazing.
The use of a female Hamlet is not new (the actor/director, Wendy Lippe, has played Hamlet twice before). Nor is the obvious choice to make Hamlet lesbian. But they went so much further here.
First, there was the choice to not make any other gender changes (from a casting POV) other than Hamlet. The recent productions of Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, and Twelfth Night that I've seen have all played with a lot of casting changes, but focusing on only one role showed how that one change has a ripple effect.
There were, to be sure, other gender-oriented changes, notably in Ophelia (also a lesbian, for obvious reasons), and Rosencrantz and Guldenstern (implied to be homosexual, not the first time that casting choice has been made). But the focus of the play was not on the sexuality alone.
This was a play about Hamlet's madness. Again, not the first time. Pretty much any good Hamlet is going to be about Hamlet's madness, with the question being to what degree the insanity is for show. A lot of this has to do with how the ghost is displayed, and the choice here was to imply that, while there was clearly something out there (Horatio and company see it, after all), the message might not have been what Hamlet thinks it was. And Hamlet switches from early melancholia to batshit crazy early on, with the implication that Hamlet is crazy, and pretending to be crazier.
But there's a brutal, horrible moment about 2/3 of the way in when the audience (and at least one other character) figures out that Hamlet is completely sane (other than possibly his message from his dad). Even at that moment, actions occur that then do drive her mad. It's brilliant, painful to watch, and one of the best choices I've seen in a long time. Not spoiling it because if you're local, I want you to see this.
There's a lot of sex and violence here; the "get the to a nunnery" scene is one of the most erotic ones I've seen on stage in a while, and if you've ever wanted to see Claudius mostly bare-ass, you'll get your chance. But there's a lot of humor early on, most around Polonius and the gravediggers (of course), but also with Rosencrantz and Guldenstern, who are given layers and depths not normally scene outside of a Stoppard play. One big choice here was to have R+G be the leaders of the players, providing them with a greater conflict as Hamlet uses them to flush out Claudius. It's a risky choice that works brilliantly.
The cast is amazing. Lippe is powerful, conveying hurt, mirth, and insanity wonderfully, and she plays off an incredibly talented cast. Horatio, Gertrude, and Ophelia were all delightful, but Claudius really steals the show. One of the problems with a lot of productions is that that the actor playing Claudius usually goes for the big oratory, but never conveys the sense of pure evil the role needs (assuming you're not seeing one of the productions that portrays him as less than evil, a valid choice, but not what was made here). The Claudius here (note that I don't have my program with me, which is why I can't name names) is perfect, evil without being comical, loving Gertrude even as he plots to kill her daughter.
The choice to make the setting modern and chance the finale from fencing to chess actually allows them to explain the whole "Laertes dies first" thing nicely (as anyone who watches is will see).
Each performance also features a brief post-show lecture on one psychological element of Hamlet. It's a nice touch, but if you're planning on leaving after the performance (understandable, as it's nearly four hours), sit in the center or on the side closest to the door, as the speech starts immediately after curtain calls.
There are eight performance left, running through the 17th. If you're local, try to catch one of them. Good, cheap Shakespeare (tickets are $25 each, $20 for students; you can also use Goldstar to knock the price down to $16.50 after service fees) is one of the great things about living in the Boston area, and this is one of those productions I'll remember for years.
It was also Elayna's first production; I suspect it might have ruined future productions for her. Ah, well."
-Yendi
The Boston Globe: A female Hamlet in a world of heroes and villains
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2011/12/08/a_female_hamlet_in_a_world_of_heroes_and_villains_in_psych_drama_company_production/
By Jeffrey Gantz Globe Correspondent, December 8, 2011
One measure of Shakespeare’s plays is their capacity to embrace almost any production concept. The Psych Drama Company, in its inaugural production at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Plaza Black Box Theatre, proposes to test that capacity with a modern-day “Hamlet’’ in which the Bard’s prince is a lesbian and original music is provided by the local band Varsity Drag. Treating “Hamlet’’ as a psychological study, “using Shakespeare’s original language but playing extensively with subtext,’’ is hardly a new, or bad, idea. I was more puzzled by the company’s claim that “when Hamlet is a woman, her feelings about Gertrude and Ophelia are inextricably bound up with her own self-loathing.’’
The linchpin here is Wendy Lippe, who when she’s not acting is a clinical psychologist on the faculty of Boston University. Lippe has played Hamlet in productions by the Algonkuin Theatre Company and Sporadic Evolution Theatre. Here she not only stars but also directs.
Lippe is an accomplished actress, and her Hamlet is a woman of strong emotions: anger, passion, remorse, sarcasm, more anger. The downside is that everything is inflated and italicized in a production that, even with cuts, runs nearly four hours.
In her program note, Lippe quotes Heraclitus: “One should not act or speak as if he were asleep.’’ In many productions, Hamlet does indeed sleepwalk. But Lippe might also have heeded her character’s advice to actors about not overstepping the modesty of nature. She turns every molehill into a mountain. And it isn’t clear how her performance would be different were she portraying Hamlet as a man. Even her sexual orientation is perplexing: She paws Horatio as well as Ophelia.
Playing with the subtext isn’t always the thing either. Here Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are gay lovers, and Gertrude keeps hitting on Rosencrantz. No problem there. But when the production has Claudius pay Hamlet’s friends, at their insistence, big bucks to sound him out, it absolves Hamlet of any responsibility for their deaths. And when, two-thirds of the way through, Claudius rapes Hamlet, we’re left to wonder whether there’s been a pattern of abuse. The sexual violence adds nothing to Claudius’s character; he’s been a villain from the beginning. This is, in fact, a black-and-white “Hamlet,’’ mostly saints and sinners: Hamlet, Horatio, Ophelia on the one side, Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern on the other. Only Laertes is left to embody Shakespeare’s many shades of gray.
The black-box set is well conceived, a simple sequence of mirrors in which the actors (and the audience) can study their reflections. The music by Varsity Drag is unobtrusive and often, in its pulsing mystery, atmospheric.
The acting in general is not at all bad, but the audience is constantly being milked for easy laughs, the chief offenders being Lippe’s Hamlet and Timothy O’Connor’s First Gravedigger. Cliff Blake plays Claudius as a sleazy politician. Anthony Dangerfield’s Polonius avoids caricature in lecturing his son, but thereafter he becomes Hamlet’s foil, as do Michael Striano’s Rosencrantz and J.L. Reed’s Guildenstern. (There are no actual foils at the end; Hamlet and Laertes instead play chess, Hamlet favoring the aggressive Ruy Lopez opening.)
Lianne O’Shea’s Ophelia over-emotes when sane but is quite affecting when mad; Alan R. White gives an intriguing frat-boy quality to Laertes. But it’s Linda Monchik’s tough, tortured Gertrude who does most justice to Shakespeare’s vision. When, at the end of their confrontation, Gertrude cradles her daughter in her arms and Hamlet says, “Good night, mother,’’ I got a glimpse of the psychological drama that might have been.
More Praise
"Alan R. White gives an intriguing frat-boy quality to Laertes..."
"It's Linda Monchik's tough, tortured Gertrude who does most justice to Shakespeare's vision..."
"Lippe is an accomplished actress, and her Hamlet is a woman of strong emotions: anger, passion, remorse, sarcasm, anger..."
-Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe
"The simple set for The Psych Drama Company's production of Hamlet makes manifest the greatest aspect of Shakespeare's play. Three mirrors, stretching from ceiling to floor, engage all of us, actors and audience alike. It's the introspective self-awareness of his own shortcomings that makes Hamlet Shakespeare's greatest tragic hero and Psych turns the inside out, outwardly presenting the audience with the play's internality. Psych's production - starring director Dr. Wendy Lippe in the title role - bares the psychological processes and struggles of the characters, laying them out in harsh light. Dialogues are conducted between reflections and monologues are delivered to the self, with a back to the audience, yet all are in view.
"Overall this was an impressive undertaking for the drama group's maiden production. The idea behind the reinterpretation was well conceived, and if Psych Drama Company keeps at it they're certain to grow into the ambitious psychoanalytic-qua-theatrical role they have set out for themselves."
-Laura Brubaker, Allston-Pudding
"Wendy Lippe and The Psych Drama Company have done a magnificent job of bringing the agony and complexity of Hamlet's psyche to us. The vision for the play is executed in Lippe's careful attention to interpreting the text in ways that illuminate the family dynamics interpersonally, and show Hamlet's internal struggle to find her place in it, tragic as it is. Lippe slows down the speeches and action so that we are able to inspect in microscopic detail and metabolize the motivations, meanings, and expressions of feeling put forth by Hamlet et al. This aesthetic choice allows the audience to peer into the internal mind and soul of Hamlet as the therapist or psychoanalyst would, lingering and reflecting on each element and new revelation of Hamlet as she unravels in the wake of her father's demise and comes to consciousness about the course of action that she ultimately, fretfully takes. The actors are uniformly superb in their ability to dig deep and work as an ensemble to give us this riveting look at a classic we think we know, yet here come to know at a whole other level. This is a fine piece of work."
-Goldie Eder, LICSW, BCD
"This is an outstanding performance. It is the most refreshing interpretation of Hamlet that I have ever seen. And, I have seen many. Congratulations to the full cast on a fine job carrying out Dr. Lippe's vision."
-Arthur Gray, Ph.D.
"I could 'wax lyrical' for paragraphs about the unique perspective, the Herculean 'feat' of 'taking on' the interpretation AND the acting of Hamlet...and....and....and....
...Just a short note to send KUDOS to Dr. Lippe and everyone involved with the wonderful and unforgettable production!"
-Noah Yonge
"This is a must see performance. Wendy Lippe is astounding in her versatility as an actress as well as a director. The discussion following the performance although too brief was a great reminder of the timelessness of Hamlet and its universal themes as relevant today as when it was written."
-N. Sandman
"Wendy Lippe is a superb actress and director. Whether or not you are a Shakespeare person (and I am not), if you would like to treat yourself to an amazing production and performance of Hamlet (in contemporary dress), this is the final week (Wed thru Sat). Wendy's direction is imaginative and her performance is nothing short of spectacular. The presentation takes place at the Boston Center For The Arts, Plaza Black Box on Tremont St. Tickets are available at Bostix and at the theater and are very reasonably priced. There is a convenient parking garage on Clarendon St, just a few blocks from the theater. Ellen and I saw the production this past weekend and were thrilled. It is a true gem!!"
-Marty Aronson
"I went to the last performance of Wendy Lippe’s Hamlet, and I’ve been reading the comments of other members of the audience back through earlier performances. Most people have been very positive. And while the number of people who actually given reasons for this reaction is thin, some did, and those have perked me up. I am feeling myself, however, that there is something in this play, and in this particular performance, that most – maybe all who have commented —have missed, and it is very important. So I’ve decided to put my thoughts into the mix of comments in the hope they will spark some reactions.
"I have always found, in Hamlet, the playing out of an age-old dilemma of the human spirit: the conflict between a thinking person’s world and the world of a person who is driven to action by strong unthinking emotions. Shakespeare puts Hamlet in a position in which those emotional tugs are powerful ones: revenge for a father’s murder, a murderer who seduces and marries Hamlet’s mother, and who wields the ultimate power of a king. But we also find out that Hamlet is a person of thought. Why go to the trouble of putting on a 'play within a play' if not to avoid just jumping to accept those ghostly words (from the start Hamlet is already raising questions about Claudius’ marrying his mother so quickly after his father’s death). Rather, Hamlet seeks to find evidence that what the 'ghost' said was true, and was not a projection of a troubled mind. Count one for reason in this round! And Hamlet reasons about suicide in 'To Be or Not To Be'. How many people in a state of despair who have committed suicide have tried to reason through whether or not to do it? This tension in Hamlet is almost unbearable! But as the play progresses, Hamlet’s reason seems to be winning. Even after becoming convinced that Claudius 'did it' when Hamlet has a chance to kill Claudius Hamlet realizes that simple revenge will not serve the interests of justice, and refrains. Another point for reason. In the Lippe performance the tension in this scene especially – and think of how powerfully tempting simple revenge must be here -- is played beautifully.
"Hamlet as a female is what drew me to this version of Hamlet. I asked, 'If Hamlet was a woman, what would that do to the multitude of themes and sub-themes in this play, but especially to the power of this basic dilemma that Shakespeare wants us to feel in this play?' Now that’s an intriguing question! And indeed, this change brought with it many other interesting changes in the relationships in the play: Hamlet and Ophelia, Hamlet and her mother, Claudius and Hamlet, all played wonderfully, and clearly, by Lippe. Did that overpower Shakespeare’s basic theme about this abiding conflict between thinking and emotion? Well, what I saw that Saturday night was that theme put in a new light that made it clear as a bell. Think again of Hamlet’s chance to kill Claudius and how those two forces were portrayed by Lippe. It showed this tension now etched in Hamlet’s soul and how, unresolved, something like that can bring a person to the brink of madness.
"My point here is that in this performance gave us a portrayal of this dilemma more clearly and forcefully than any other performance of this play that I have seen. Was this enhanced by the additional layers that Lippe’s female Hamlet brought to this play? Well, YES, that new light, with its own complexities, made this dilemma stand out. That’s what I really loved about this performance. I will think about it for many years to come.
"Then there’s the last scene. Shakespeare turns the tables on all of us. It is emotion – revenge, anger, hatred – that wins out in the end! Every death in that scene, especially Claudius’ own at Hamlet’s hand, is the result of passion, revenge, anger, fear. No justice was served by any of these. There is no way to not react in kind to those final despicable acts of Claudius. Or is there? Is this Shakespeare telling his 17th Century audiences something he perceived about themselves? I think maybe more than that! Shakespeare, through this masterful performance, is giving us, now, in the first part 21st Century, the same message about ourselves. This performance, especially with a female Hamlet in this play, shows us the universality of Shakespeare’s message.
"But is it inevitably universal? Everyone in the world should see Lippe’s Hamlet and hear Shakespeare’s message through it – and do something about it that will make this a message that will not be true of the next generation and the generation after that in this Century. In a world of nuclear weapons, rapid communication, and sophisticated technology, our survival as a human race may depend on that!"
-rjs, WBUR.org
"I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and found it to be riveting. I would not have realized the production was 3 ½ hours long had I not been told of its length and advised to visit the bathroom before being seated. This Hamlet was certainly not the version I studied in high school, but I found it to be extremely innovative while still respectful of Shakespeare. I truly look forward to the next play from the company."
-longbeacher, WBUR.org
"Pertaining to a comment below about the director's creating a 'self-aggrandizing' production... Among other things, Hamlet is one of the penultimate explorations of the impact upon an individual's sense of worth (e.g. 'to be or not to be') in the context of betrayal by family and friends. The play focuses intensely upon the choices of this one person, Hamlet, and the consequences of those choices. IMHO, this production's use of mirrors, along with its depiction of an act of sexual abuse and its manifestation of the Ghost of Hamlet's father, are provocative directorial choices that bring into the realm of physical metaphor what is going on inside Hamlet. Saw this play over a week ago and still thinking about it, which is a great compliment."
-To BE, WBUR.org
"I'm among those who were very impressed with this production. I just wanted to add that the gay aspect of this Hamlet production struck me as being more ambiguous than overt. If one looked literally at this production, then one should be bothered by the fact that Ophelia's two brothers are from different racial backgrounds. Considering the amount of suspension of disbelief required to enjoy any play, I decided that gender wasn't particularly important. That's not a bad thing to take away from this production!"
-AZS, WBUR.org
"I saw the final performance and thought Dr. Lippe's performance was awesome! Furthermore, when considering the fact that she directed and played the lead role her performance and the performance of her cast was even more impressive. I have become a big fan of Psych Drama and look forward to future productions!"
-lorenzo, WBUR.org
"Brilliant insights into complex characters who have fascinated theater goers since it was written. Hamlet has beckoned to actors for generations and Dr. Lippe has risen to the challenge with acumen and power. As a director, she has focused attention on the other characters as well, particularly the women. Gertrude and Ophelia are portrayed with great sensitivity. The after-performance discussion was interesting-I wish I could have heard more of them. All in all, a most satisfying theatrical experience. Kudos to everyone involved with the Psych Drama Company!"
-nycgal, WBUR.org
"I saw the play and found it to be something new for me. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who appreciates different interpretations of a story that has experienced its fair share of coverage over the years. I believe that the bold approach that I observed was a wonderful way to grab my attention. Very enjoyable."
-SN, WBUR.org
"The black-box set is well conceived, a simple sequence of mirrors in which the actors (and the audience) can study their reflections...
...The music by Varsity Drag is, in its pulsing mystery, atmospheric..."
-Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe
The Psych Drama Company Launches: Shakespearean and Greek Tragedy Through a Psychologist’s Lens
A new Boston-area theater company is set to pull back the curtain and reveal the psychological underpinnings of classical Greek and Shakespearean drama. The Psych Drama Company will unveil their first production, Shakespeare’s "Hamlet," from Nov. 30 to Dec. 17 2011, at the Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. Shakespeare’s tragedy will take place in a contemporary setting that highlights the psychology behind the thoughts, feelings and motives that drive the characters in the play. Their production also features original music composed by Boston indie band Varsity Drag, adding to the play’s contemporary, edgy feel. In this new interpretation, Hamlet is a woman and the sole heir of a wealthy, dysfunctional family in an isolated world with few social connections. The play examines the dynamics of individuals and families caught up in an increasingly complex and tragic web of events.
Wendy Lippe, Ph.D., who founded The Psych Drama Company in December 2010, is a clinical psychologist who was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for over a decade and is currently an adjunct assistant professor at Boston University. Lippe has hit the boards herself in the past, when she played the part of Hamlet, portraying the character as a woman for the Sporadic Evolution Theatre and later in a production by the Algonkuin Theatre Company. For the upcoming production at the BCA, Lippe will wear a new hat – that of director.
A reviewer for the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, who attended Lippe’s performance as Hamlet in the Algonkuin production, said "Lippe’s feline ferocity energizes the production with the breath of authenticity" and called her performance "invigorating" and "delightfully unhinged." In a Boston Globe story about Lippe’s decision to play Hamlet as a woman, author Denise Taylor says in Shakespearean parlance: "to be or not to be a female Hamlet is no longer a question for Wendy Lippe." In explaining her acting choices when trying to infuse the character with female traits, Lippe told the Globe "I try to integrate more emotional and physical expression…and integrating that expressiveness with the more obsessive quality feels like integrating both a female and a male sensibility," Lippe said.
Part of the Psych Drama Company’s mission is to explore what makes people tick and what brings out the best and worst in human behavior. After a theater-goer experiences a Psych Drama production, the Company’s aim is to help audience members reflect on themselves through a psychological prism. The Company is especially interested in Shakespearean and Greek tragedy, but plans to offer a broad range of dramatic works to explore the depths and complexities of the psyche. Its works are targeted at professionals in the mental health community as well as the general public.
In keeping with this mission, The Psych Drama Company is planning to have mental health professionals, in Boston and New York City write "jargon free" papers which they will then present prior to individual performances. The idea behind these papers, which will be free of psychological lingo, is to stimulate insight and encourage audience members to get in touch with their inner-most thoughts and feelings. The authors of these papers will also be invited to collaborate with the company’s artistic team to help shape the performances. As an alternative to formal paper presentations, authors may choose to prepare abstracts (without a full paper) which they can then use to generate discussions with our audiences.
"Our use of classic dramatic works will be an exceptional tool for the exploration of the internal landscape of the human soul. Although we are particularly interested in Shakespearean and Greek tragedy, we will utilize a broad range of dramatic works to explore the depths and complexities of the human psyche. We are eager to continually expand the work that we do while becoming an established part of the local theater scene," Lippe says.
Lippe hopes the Psych Drama Company’s approach to theater will be at least a partial antidote to our fast-paced world of technology and social media, where she says "it’s easy to lose track of one’s own inner-workings."
For more information contact: Wendy Lippe, Ph.D., The Psych Drama Company, 617-275-9167. www.thepsychdramacompany.com.
About the Boston Center for the Arts: The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is the nonprofit performing and visual arts center whose mission is to support working artists to create, perform and exhibit new work; to develop new audiences; and to connect the arts to a broad public. For more information, visit www.bcaonline.org.
-Nancy Rabinowitz, (Former) Director of Publicity
"Was Hamlet depressed or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder? Would Medea, who turned a vengeful hatred for her ex-husband toward her own children in the ancient Greek tragedy, be diagnosed today with borderline personality disorder? How would other heroes or anti-heroes, fare on today’s therapeutic coaches?
In creating a new theater company, Boston’s Psych Drama, clinical psychologist Wendy Lippe, Ph.D., decided to use the theater as a way to both take a closer look at the psychology behind these classic and classical plays and to give audiences insight into their own psyches. Starting with a modern take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” this past November, the company plans to re-interpret these ancient and well-loved texts for a modern audience, from a psychological viewpoint. In addition, each performance will be followed with a talk for the general public given by a local psychologist on the themes of each show."
- Catherine Robertson Souter, New England Psychologist
Read More >
Psych Drama Company Puts Plays On Analyst’s Couch
"On stage she wears ripped jeans and a red bustier. There’s a gun. Lippe delivers Hamlet’s tortured soliloquies facing one of the huge mirrors, with her back to the audience. There’s something strange and powerful about it. At the end of the play the psychologist/actor chooses to leave one mirror exposed. It’s for Horatio, the last man standing in this tragedy.
But, Lippe says, it’s also for the audience."
-Andrea Shea, WBUR
Brookline Psychologist Takes On Hamlet
"Wendy Lippe spends her days dissecting the deepest crevices of her patients’ psyches. At night, she becomes Hamlet, inhabiting the tortured mind of Shakespeare’s famous prince."
-Teddy Applebaum, Brookline TAB
A Damned Fine Hamlet
"We (my daughter Elayna, sindrian, gwynraven, and myself) saw the new Hamlet from the Psych Drama Company at the Boston Center for the Arts last night.
Folks, this was amazing.
The use of a female Hamlet is not new (the actor/director, Wendy Lippe, has played Hamlet twice before). Nor is the obvious choice to make Hamlet lesbian. But they went so much further here.
First, there was the choice to not make any other gender changes (from a casting POV) other than Hamlet. The recent productions of Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, and Twelfth Night that I've seen have all played with a lot of casting changes, but focusing on only one role showed how that one change has a ripple effect.
There were, to be sure, other gender-oriented changes, notably in Ophelia (also a lesbian, for obvious reasons), and Rosencrantz and Guldenstern (implied to be homosexual, not the first time that casting choice has been made). But the focus of the play was not on the sexuality alone.
This was a play about Hamlet's madness. Again, not the first time. Pretty much any good Hamlet is going to be about Hamlet's madness, with the question being to what degree the insanity is for show. A lot of this has to do with how the ghost is displayed, and the choice here was to imply that, while there was clearly something out there (Horatio and company see it, after all), the message might not have been what Hamlet thinks it was. And Hamlet switches from early melancholia to batshit crazy early on, with the implication that Hamlet is crazy, and pretending to be crazier.
But there's a brutal, horrible moment about 2/3 of the way in when the audience (and at least one other character) figures out that Hamlet is completely sane (other than possibly his message from his dad). Even at that moment, actions occur that then do drive her mad. It's brilliant, painful to watch, and one of the best choices I've seen in a long time. Not spoiling it because if you're local, I want you to see this.
There's a lot of sex and violence here; the "get the to a nunnery" scene is one of the most erotic ones I've seen on stage in a while, and if you've ever wanted to see Claudius mostly bare-ass, you'll get your chance. But there's a lot of humor early on, most around Polonius and the gravediggers (of course), but also with Rosencrantz and Guldenstern, who are given layers and depths not normally scene outside of a Stoppard play. One big choice here was to have R+G be the leaders of the players, providing them with a greater conflict as Hamlet uses them to flush out Claudius. It's a risky choice that works brilliantly.
The cast is amazing. Lippe is powerful, conveying hurt, mirth, and insanity wonderfully, and she plays off an incredibly talented cast. Horatio, Gertrude, and Ophelia were all delightful, but Claudius really steals the show. One of the problems with a lot of productions is that that the actor playing Claudius usually goes for the big oratory, but never conveys the sense of pure evil the role needs (assuming you're not seeing one of the productions that portrays him as less than evil, a valid choice, but not what was made here). The Claudius here (note that I don't have my program with me, which is why I can't name names) is perfect, evil without being comical, loving Gertrude even as he plots to kill her daughter.
The choice to make the setting modern and chance the finale from fencing to chess actually allows them to explain the whole "Laertes dies first" thing nicely (as anyone who watches is will see).
Each performance also features a brief post-show lecture on one psychological element of Hamlet. It's a nice touch, but if you're planning on leaving after the performance (understandable, as it's nearly four hours), sit in the center or on the side closest to the door, as the speech starts immediately after curtain calls.
There are eight performance left, running through the 17th. If you're local, try to catch one of them. Good, cheap Shakespeare (tickets are $25 each, $20 for students; you can also use Goldstar to knock the price down to $16.50 after service fees) is one of the great things about living in the Boston area, and this is one of those productions I'll remember for years.
It was also Elayna's first production; I suspect it might have ruined future productions for her. Ah, well."
-Yendi
The Boston Globe: A female Hamlet in a world of heroes and villains
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2011/12/08/a_female_hamlet_in_a_world_of_heroes_and_villains_in_psych_drama_company_production/
By Jeffrey Gantz Globe Correspondent, December 8, 2011
One measure of Shakespeare’s plays is their capacity to embrace almost any production concept. The Psych Drama Company, in its inaugural production at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Plaza Black Box Theatre, proposes to test that capacity with a modern-day “Hamlet’’ in which the Bard’s prince is a lesbian and original music is provided by the local band Varsity Drag. Treating “Hamlet’’ as a psychological study, “using Shakespeare’s original language but playing extensively with subtext,’’ is hardly a new, or bad, idea. I was more puzzled by the company’s claim that “when Hamlet is a woman, her feelings about Gertrude and Ophelia are inextricably bound up with her own self-loathing.’’
The linchpin here is Wendy Lippe, who when she’s not acting is a clinical psychologist on the faculty of Boston University. Lippe has played Hamlet in productions by the Algonkuin Theatre Company and Sporadic Evolution Theatre. Here she not only stars but also directs.
Lippe is an accomplished actress, and her Hamlet is a woman of strong emotions: anger, passion, remorse, sarcasm, more anger. The downside is that everything is inflated and italicized in a production that, even with cuts, runs nearly four hours.
In her program note, Lippe quotes Heraclitus: “One should not act or speak as if he were asleep.’’ In many productions, Hamlet does indeed sleepwalk. But Lippe might also have heeded her character’s advice to actors about not overstepping the modesty of nature. She turns every molehill into a mountain. And it isn’t clear how her performance would be different were she portraying Hamlet as a man. Even her sexual orientation is perplexing: She paws Horatio as well as Ophelia.
Playing with the subtext isn’t always the thing either. Here Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are gay lovers, and Gertrude keeps hitting on Rosencrantz. No problem there. But when the production has Claudius pay Hamlet’s friends, at their insistence, big bucks to sound him out, it absolves Hamlet of any responsibility for their deaths. And when, two-thirds of the way through, Claudius rapes Hamlet, we’re left to wonder whether there’s been a pattern of abuse. The sexual violence adds nothing to Claudius’s character; he’s been a villain from the beginning. This is, in fact, a black-and-white “Hamlet,’’ mostly saints and sinners: Hamlet, Horatio, Ophelia on the one side, Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern on the other. Only Laertes is left to embody Shakespeare’s many shades of gray.
The black-box set is well conceived, a simple sequence of mirrors in which the actors (and the audience) can study their reflections. The music by Varsity Drag is unobtrusive and often, in its pulsing mystery, atmospheric.
The acting in general is not at all bad, but the audience is constantly being milked for easy laughs, the chief offenders being Lippe’s Hamlet and Timothy O’Connor’s First Gravedigger. Cliff Blake plays Claudius as a sleazy politician. Anthony Dangerfield’s Polonius avoids caricature in lecturing his son, but thereafter he becomes Hamlet’s foil, as do Michael Striano’s Rosencrantz and J.L. Reed’s Guildenstern. (There are no actual foils at the end; Hamlet and Laertes instead play chess, Hamlet favoring the aggressive Ruy Lopez opening.)
Lianne O’Shea’s Ophelia over-emotes when sane but is quite affecting when mad; Alan R. White gives an intriguing frat-boy quality to Laertes. But it’s Linda Monchik’s tough, tortured Gertrude who does most justice to Shakespeare’s vision. When, at the end of their confrontation, Gertrude cradles her daughter in her arms and Hamlet says, “Good night, mother,’’ I got a glimpse of the psychological drama that might have been.
More Praise
"Alan R. White gives an intriguing frat-boy quality to Laertes..."
"It's Linda Monchik's tough, tortured Gertrude who does most justice to Shakespeare's vision..."
"Lippe is an accomplished actress, and her Hamlet is a woman of strong emotions: anger, passion, remorse, sarcasm, anger..."
-Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe
"The simple set for The Psych Drama Company's production of Hamlet makes manifest the greatest aspect of Shakespeare's play. Three mirrors, stretching from ceiling to floor, engage all of us, actors and audience alike. It's the introspective self-awareness of his own shortcomings that makes Hamlet Shakespeare's greatest tragic hero and Psych turns the inside out, outwardly presenting the audience with the play's internality. Psych's production - starring director Dr. Wendy Lippe in the title role - bares the psychological processes and struggles of the characters, laying them out in harsh light. Dialogues are conducted between reflections and monologues are delivered to the self, with a back to the audience, yet all are in view.
"Overall this was an impressive undertaking for the drama group's maiden production. The idea behind the reinterpretation was well conceived, and if Psych Drama Company keeps at it they're certain to grow into the ambitious psychoanalytic-qua-theatrical role they have set out for themselves."
-Laura Brubaker, Allston-Pudding
"Wendy Lippe and The Psych Drama Company have done a magnificent job of bringing the agony and complexity of Hamlet's psyche to us. The vision for the play is executed in Lippe's careful attention to interpreting the text in ways that illuminate the family dynamics interpersonally, and show Hamlet's internal struggle to find her place in it, tragic as it is. Lippe slows down the speeches and action so that we are able to inspect in microscopic detail and metabolize the motivations, meanings, and expressions of feeling put forth by Hamlet et al. This aesthetic choice allows the audience to peer into the internal mind and soul of Hamlet as the therapist or psychoanalyst would, lingering and reflecting on each element and new revelation of Hamlet as she unravels in the wake of her father's demise and comes to consciousness about the course of action that she ultimately, fretfully takes. The actors are uniformly superb in their ability to dig deep and work as an ensemble to give us this riveting look at a classic we think we know, yet here come to know at a whole other level. This is a fine piece of work."
-Goldie Eder, LICSW, BCD
"This is an outstanding performance. It is the most refreshing interpretation of Hamlet that I have ever seen. And, I have seen many. Congratulations to the full cast on a fine job carrying out Dr. Lippe's vision."
-Arthur Gray, Ph.D.
"I could 'wax lyrical' for paragraphs about the unique perspective, the Herculean 'feat' of 'taking on' the interpretation AND the acting of Hamlet...and....and....and....
...Just a short note to send KUDOS to Dr. Lippe and everyone involved with the wonderful and unforgettable production!"
-Noah Yonge
"This is a must see performance. Wendy Lippe is astounding in her versatility as an actress as well as a director. The discussion following the performance although too brief was a great reminder of the timelessness of Hamlet and its universal themes as relevant today as when it was written."
-N. Sandman
"Wendy Lippe is a superb actress and director. Whether or not you are a Shakespeare person (and I am not), if you would like to treat yourself to an amazing production and performance of Hamlet (in contemporary dress), this is the final week (Wed thru Sat). Wendy's direction is imaginative and her performance is nothing short of spectacular. The presentation takes place at the Boston Center For The Arts, Plaza Black Box on Tremont St. Tickets are available at Bostix and at the theater and are very reasonably priced. There is a convenient parking garage on Clarendon St, just a few blocks from the theater. Ellen and I saw the production this past weekend and were thrilled. It is a true gem!!"
-Marty Aronson
"I went to the last performance of Wendy Lippe’s Hamlet, and I’ve been reading the comments of other members of the audience back through earlier performances. Most people have been very positive. And while the number of people who actually given reasons for this reaction is thin, some did, and those have perked me up. I am feeling myself, however, that there is something in this play, and in this particular performance, that most – maybe all who have commented —have missed, and it is very important. So I’ve decided to put my thoughts into the mix of comments in the hope they will spark some reactions.
"I have always found, in Hamlet, the playing out of an age-old dilemma of the human spirit: the conflict between a thinking person’s world and the world of a person who is driven to action by strong unthinking emotions. Shakespeare puts Hamlet in a position in which those emotional tugs are powerful ones: revenge for a father’s murder, a murderer who seduces and marries Hamlet’s mother, and who wields the ultimate power of a king. But we also find out that Hamlet is a person of thought. Why go to the trouble of putting on a 'play within a play' if not to avoid just jumping to accept those ghostly words (from the start Hamlet is already raising questions about Claudius’ marrying his mother so quickly after his father’s death). Rather, Hamlet seeks to find evidence that what the 'ghost' said was true, and was not a projection of a troubled mind. Count one for reason in this round! And Hamlet reasons about suicide in 'To Be or Not To Be'. How many people in a state of despair who have committed suicide have tried to reason through whether or not to do it? This tension in Hamlet is almost unbearable! But as the play progresses, Hamlet’s reason seems to be winning. Even after becoming convinced that Claudius 'did it' when Hamlet has a chance to kill Claudius Hamlet realizes that simple revenge will not serve the interests of justice, and refrains. Another point for reason. In the Lippe performance the tension in this scene especially – and think of how powerfully tempting simple revenge must be here -- is played beautifully.
"Hamlet as a female is what drew me to this version of Hamlet. I asked, 'If Hamlet was a woman, what would that do to the multitude of themes and sub-themes in this play, but especially to the power of this basic dilemma that Shakespeare wants us to feel in this play?' Now that’s an intriguing question! And indeed, this change brought with it many other interesting changes in the relationships in the play: Hamlet and Ophelia, Hamlet and her mother, Claudius and Hamlet, all played wonderfully, and clearly, by Lippe. Did that overpower Shakespeare’s basic theme about this abiding conflict between thinking and emotion? Well, what I saw that Saturday night was that theme put in a new light that made it clear as a bell. Think again of Hamlet’s chance to kill Claudius and how those two forces were portrayed by Lippe. It showed this tension now etched in Hamlet’s soul and how, unresolved, something like that can bring a person to the brink of madness.
"My point here is that in this performance gave us a portrayal of this dilemma more clearly and forcefully than any other performance of this play that I have seen. Was this enhanced by the additional layers that Lippe’s female Hamlet brought to this play? Well, YES, that new light, with its own complexities, made this dilemma stand out. That’s what I really loved about this performance. I will think about it for many years to come.
"Then there’s the last scene. Shakespeare turns the tables on all of us. It is emotion – revenge, anger, hatred – that wins out in the end! Every death in that scene, especially Claudius’ own at Hamlet’s hand, is the result of passion, revenge, anger, fear. No justice was served by any of these. There is no way to not react in kind to those final despicable acts of Claudius. Or is there? Is this Shakespeare telling his 17th Century audiences something he perceived about themselves? I think maybe more than that! Shakespeare, through this masterful performance, is giving us, now, in the first part 21st Century, the same message about ourselves. This performance, especially with a female Hamlet in this play, shows us the universality of Shakespeare’s message.
"But is it inevitably universal? Everyone in the world should see Lippe’s Hamlet and hear Shakespeare’s message through it – and do something about it that will make this a message that will not be true of the next generation and the generation after that in this Century. In a world of nuclear weapons, rapid communication, and sophisticated technology, our survival as a human race may depend on that!"
-rjs, WBUR.org
"I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and found it to be riveting. I would not have realized the production was 3 ½ hours long had I not been told of its length and advised to visit the bathroom before being seated. This Hamlet was certainly not the version I studied in high school, but I found it to be extremely innovative while still respectful of Shakespeare. I truly look forward to the next play from the company."
-longbeacher, WBUR.org
"Pertaining to a comment below about the director's creating a 'self-aggrandizing' production... Among other things, Hamlet is one of the penultimate explorations of the impact upon an individual's sense of worth (e.g. 'to be or not to be') in the context of betrayal by family and friends. The play focuses intensely upon the choices of this one person, Hamlet, and the consequences of those choices. IMHO, this production's use of mirrors, along with its depiction of an act of sexual abuse and its manifestation of the Ghost of Hamlet's father, are provocative directorial choices that bring into the realm of physical metaphor what is going on inside Hamlet. Saw this play over a week ago and still thinking about it, which is a great compliment."
-To BE, WBUR.org
"I'm among those who were very impressed with this production. I just wanted to add that the gay aspect of this Hamlet production struck me as being more ambiguous than overt. If one looked literally at this production, then one should be bothered by the fact that Ophelia's two brothers are from different racial backgrounds. Considering the amount of suspension of disbelief required to enjoy any play, I decided that gender wasn't particularly important. That's not a bad thing to take away from this production!"
-AZS, WBUR.org
"I saw the final performance and thought Dr. Lippe's performance was awesome! Furthermore, when considering the fact that she directed and played the lead role her performance and the performance of her cast was even more impressive. I have become a big fan of Psych Drama and look forward to future productions!"
-lorenzo, WBUR.org
"Brilliant insights into complex characters who have fascinated theater goers since it was written. Hamlet has beckoned to actors for generations and Dr. Lippe has risen to the challenge with acumen and power. As a director, she has focused attention on the other characters as well, particularly the women. Gertrude and Ophelia are portrayed with great sensitivity. The after-performance discussion was interesting-I wish I could have heard more of them. All in all, a most satisfying theatrical experience. Kudos to everyone involved with the Psych Drama Company!"
-nycgal, WBUR.org
"I saw the play and found it to be something new for me. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who appreciates different interpretations of a story that has experienced its fair share of coverage over the years. I believe that the bold approach that I observed was a wonderful way to grab my attention. Very enjoyable."
-SN, WBUR.org
"The black-box set is well conceived, a simple sequence of mirrors in which the actors (and the audience) can study their reflections...
...The music by Varsity Drag is, in its pulsing mystery, atmospheric..."
-Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe
The Psych Drama Company Launches: Shakespearean and Greek Tragedy Through a Psychologist’s Lens
A new Boston-area theater company is set to pull back the curtain and reveal the psychological underpinnings of classical Greek and Shakespearean drama. The Psych Drama Company will unveil their first production, Shakespeare’s "Hamlet," from Nov. 30 to Dec. 17 2011, at the Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. Shakespeare’s tragedy will take place in a contemporary setting that highlights the psychology behind the thoughts, feelings and motives that drive the characters in the play. Their production also features original music composed by Boston indie band Varsity Drag, adding to the play’s contemporary, edgy feel. In this new interpretation, Hamlet is a woman and the sole heir of a wealthy, dysfunctional family in an isolated world with few social connections. The play examines the dynamics of individuals and families caught up in an increasingly complex and tragic web of events.
Wendy Lippe, Ph.D., who founded The Psych Drama Company in December 2010, is a clinical psychologist who was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for over a decade and is currently an adjunct assistant professor at Boston University. Lippe has hit the boards herself in the past, when she played the part of Hamlet, portraying the character as a woman for the Sporadic Evolution Theatre and later in a production by the Algonkuin Theatre Company. For the upcoming production at the BCA, Lippe will wear a new hat – that of director.
A reviewer for the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, who attended Lippe’s performance as Hamlet in the Algonkuin production, said "Lippe’s feline ferocity energizes the production with the breath of authenticity" and called her performance "invigorating" and "delightfully unhinged." In a Boston Globe story about Lippe’s decision to play Hamlet as a woman, author Denise Taylor says in Shakespearean parlance: "to be or not to be a female Hamlet is no longer a question for Wendy Lippe." In explaining her acting choices when trying to infuse the character with female traits, Lippe told the Globe "I try to integrate more emotional and physical expression…and integrating that expressiveness with the more obsessive quality feels like integrating both a female and a male sensibility," Lippe said.
Part of the Psych Drama Company’s mission is to explore what makes people tick and what brings out the best and worst in human behavior. After a theater-goer experiences a Psych Drama production, the Company’s aim is to help audience members reflect on themselves through a psychological prism. The Company is especially interested in Shakespearean and Greek tragedy, but plans to offer a broad range of dramatic works to explore the depths and complexities of the psyche. Its works are targeted at professionals in the mental health community as well as the general public.
In keeping with this mission, The Psych Drama Company is planning to have mental health professionals, in Boston and New York City write "jargon free" papers which they will then present prior to individual performances. The idea behind these papers, which will be free of psychological lingo, is to stimulate insight and encourage audience members to get in touch with their inner-most thoughts and feelings. The authors of these papers will also be invited to collaborate with the company’s artistic team to help shape the performances. As an alternative to formal paper presentations, authors may choose to prepare abstracts (without a full paper) which they can then use to generate discussions with our audiences.
"Our use of classic dramatic works will be an exceptional tool for the exploration of the internal landscape of the human soul. Although we are particularly interested in Shakespearean and Greek tragedy, we will utilize a broad range of dramatic works to explore the depths and complexities of the human psyche. We are eager to continually expand the work that we do while becoming an established part of the local theater scene," Lippe says.
Lippe hopes the Psych Drama Company’s approach to theater will be at least a partial antidote to our fast-paced world of technology and social media, where she says "it’s easy to lose track of one’s own inner-workings."
For more information contact: Wendy Lippe, Ph.D., The Psych Drama Company, 617-275-9167. www.thepsychdramacompany.com.
About the Boston Center for the Arts: The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is the nonprofit performing and visual arts center whose mission is to support working artists to create, perform and exhibit new work; to develop new audiences; and to connect the arts to a broad public. For more information, visit www.bcaonline.org.
-Nancy Rabinowitz, (Former) Director of Publicity
Female ‘Hamlet’ gives show spark
Female ‘Hamlet’ gives show spark (telegram.com)
Paul Kolas WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE REVIEWER
July 14, 2009
Watching — or more to the point, listening — to Algonkuin Theatre Company’s ragtag production of “Hamlet” in Norwood’s Cleveland Park, on a bright and breezy Sunday afternoon, was much like the reception one tries in vain to get on a borderline out-of-range radio station.
There were times when William De Pari’s sound system boomed with crackling intensity and moments when the sparse audience had to strain to hear what was being said by the cast. The wind often stirred through the speakers like Hamlet’s restless and addled soul, and although one can make allowances for the understandable perils of outdoor theater, it’s not so easy to dismiss the sometimes shabby display of acting on the grassy stage.
By the time director Marty BlackEagle-Carl’s intriguingly imagined production moves to Whitinsville this upcoming weekend, it is fervently hoped that Marty Lynch’s distressingly undernourished and tentative portrayal of Hamlet’s treacherous Uncle Claudius will transform into a much more intense and assured display of villainy.
With rare exceptions — when Claudius demands where Polonius is and later anticipates Hamlet’s death — Lynch wanders back and forth on stage muttering his lines with very little conviction or passion.
He’s hardly a worthy foe for Wendy Lippe’s vengeful, tormented, playful and delightfully unhinged interpretation of Hamlet.
Yes, you read that correctly. Hamlet is a woman, and hardly a melancholy Dane, but an entertainingly spiteful vixen with a decidedly alternative lifestyle sensibility.
As long as Lippe is front and center — spewing Shakespeare’s wondrous prose with maniacal relish, and pawing Horatio (Caroline Rodriguez), Rosencrantz (Kelly Reid) and Guildenstern (Amy Lee Connell) with sexual insinuation — you’re more than willing to accept BlackEagle-Carl’s wild conception of the play.
Lippe’s feline ferocity energizes the production with the breath of authenticity. You can feel her anger and pain between her bouts of whimsy and cruelty, and although other members of the cast turn in credible performances, she overpowers them with her dynamic commitment to the role.
Sound problems may have hampered Lauren Shear’s Ophelia, but Shear still seemed to lack a fragile poignancy that would have made the “Get thee to a nunnery!” scene more effective. Faring better are the sly and perky efforts of Rodriguez, Reid and Connell as Hamlet’s gal pal trio.
That can’t be said for Charlene Winslow’s frumpy, matronly and bland take on Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, a role crying out for more visible ardor.
Chris Ebacher handles the part of the ghost of Hamlet’s father with suitable foreboding, Matthew Curtis plays well off Lippe as the gravedigger, and Anthony Medeiros breathes some life into Ophelia’s father Polonius.
Because of last-minute casting problems, BlackEagle-Carl had to step into the role of Hamlet’s fateful foil, Laertes, reading from the text at times, but doing it with vigor.
Despite its glaring weaknesses, and its seemingly interminable three-and-a-half-hour running time, prompting half the audience to leave at intermission, keep in mind two things: the free admission and Wendy Lippe’s invigorating Hamlet.
Female ‘Hamlet’ gives show spark (telegram.com)
Paul Kolas WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE REVIEWER
July 14, 2009
Watching — or more to the point, listening — to Algonkuin Theatre Company’s ragtag production of “Hamlet” in Norwood’s Cleveland Park, on a bright and breezy Sunday afternoon, was much like the reception one tries in vain to get on a borderline out-of-range radio station.
There were times when William De Pari’s sound system boomed with crackling intensity and moments when the sparse audience had to strain to hear what was being said by the cast. The wind often stirred through the speakers like Hamlet’s restless and addled soul, and although one can make allowances for the understandable perils of outdoor theater, it’s not so easy to dismiss the sometimes shabby display of acting on the grassy stage.
By the time director Marty BlackEagle-Carl’s intriguingly imagined production moves to Whitinsville this upcoming weekend, it is fervently hoped that Marty Lynch’s distressingly undernourished and tentative portrayal of Hamlet’s treacherous Uncle Claudius will transform into a much more intense and assured display of villainy.
With rare exceptions — when Claudius demands where Polonius is and later anticipates Hamlet’s death — Lynch wanders back and forth on stage muttering his lines with very little conviction or passion.
He’s hardly a worthy foe for Wendy Lippe’s vengeful, tormented, playful and delightfully unhinged interpretation of Hamlet.
Yes, you read that correctly. Hamlet is a woman, and hardly a melancholy Dane, but an entertainingly spiteful vixen with a decidedly alternative lifestyle sensibility.
As long as Lippe is front and center — spewing Shakespeare’s wondrous prose with maniacal relish, and pawing Horatio (Caroline Rodriguez), Rosencrantz (Kelly Reid) and Guildenstern (Amy Lee Connell) with sexual insinuation — you’re more than willing to accept BlackEagle-Carl’s wild conception of the play.
Lippe’s feline ferocity energizes the production with the breath of authenticity. You can feel her anger and pain between her bouts of whimsy and cruelty, and although other members of the cast turn in credible performances, she overpowers them with her dynamic commitment to the role.
Sound problems may have hampered Lauren Shear’s Ophelia, but Shear still seemed to lack a fragile poignancy that would have made the “Get thee to a nunnery!” scene more effective. Faring better are the sly and perky efforts of Rodriguez, Reid and Connell as Hamlet’s gal pal trio.
That can’t be said for Charlene Winslow’s frumpy, matronly and bland take on Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, a role crying out for more visible ardor.
Chris Ebacher handles the part of the ghost of Hamlet’s father with suitable foreboding, Matthew Curtis plays well off Lippe as the gravedigger, and Anthony Medeiros breathes some life into Ophelia’s father Polonius.
Because of last-minute casting problems, BlackEagle-Carl had to step into the role of Hamlet’s fateful foil, Laertes, reading from the text at times, but doing it with vigor.
Despite its glaring weaknesses, and its seemingly interminable three-and-a-half-hour running time, prompting half the audience to leave at intermission, keep in mind two things: the free admission and Wendy Lippe’s invigorating Hamlet.
© 2019 The Psych Drama Company/Pandora’s Box Productions, Inc.