Los Angeles Community Theatres - Crown Theatre Los Angeles

2006
2nd Annual Shakespeare Festival
in
Memorial Park, Pasadena

“HAMLET”
by William Shakespeare

September 8th, 9th & 10th
September 15th, 16th & 17th

All performances start @ 7:00 p.m.

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

The death of a parent can be the most devastating experience of one’s life. It is usually the first time people truly realize and question their own mortality. For most of us, trying to deal with or express our own emotions can be difficult – either we want to let it out and cannot or it comes out in torrents. Releasing the pain, anger and fear can either be cathartic or it can lead to turmoil. Holding it in can lead to deep depression, more anger and even insanity. Yet the human spirit is resilient and most of the time our brains, our hearts and our souls find a way to move on with our lives. However, for those who cannot move on it becomes harder and harder to live within the reality of the situation and their mental foundation begins to crack. Hamlet says, after seeing the ghost, that he will “put on an antic disposition” (act different, perhaps crazy) and from this point in the play we don’t know if he is acting to get at the truth of if he truly is stepping beyond reality. His very human condition suggests both, perhaps tending toward the latter.

One of the most important themes in HAMLET is Christianity versus Barbarianism – if Hamlet truly was a man of his time, he would have raised an army, killed his uncle and taken over his Father’s kingdom, but instead he looks for absolute truth before he acts. The question then comes to mind, “Is revenge a part of Christianity?” When we look harder at the play perhaps it is more the concepts of Heaven and Hell that direct Hamlet’s outcome and his motivations. When Hamlet first sees the ghost he asks,“Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable?” Horatio warns him,“What if it tempt you toward the flood,…And there assume some other, horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness?”

Is “something rotten in the state of Denmark”? Horatio says, “This bodes some strange eruption to our state.” From the beginning of the play it seems that Denmark is in a state of hellish turmoil and even Hamlet’s attempt to not be “tempted toward the flood” by making sure that Claudius killed his Father before he enacts revenge fails to offset the evil that has engulfed the Kingdom. Hamlet’s own fears of going against God or of being sent to hell or “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns…” leads him deeper into insanity as he tries to find out the truth and justify killing his Uncle. “Thou shalt not kill.” Even Gods’ will prevents him from taking his own life,... “Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!”

Is Hamlet’s breaking point when he discovers that he cannot take his own life, yet going on is too painful? And in the end does the ghost get what he wants -- and at what price? How many people have suffered? How has this helped the Kingdom? Was this ghost Hamlet’s Father or was he a minister of hell sent to continue the devil’s work started when Hamlet’s Father stripped Norway of his lands after deadly battle? The outcome of the play helped me to decide many of these questions. But let not me, “tempt you toward...” an end... sit back, relax and let the journey begin for HAMLET is a multi-faceted play and you may find your own interpretation.

Hamlet

*Matthew J. Williamson

Gertrude

*Joanne Marie

Claudius/Ghost

*Rick Williamson

Ophelia

*Kellie Matteson

Polonius/Gravedigger

*Vsev Krawczeniuk

Laertes/Player King

*Paul Preston

Horatio

*Rodrick Jean-Charles

Bernardo/Rosencrantz/(voice)Player Queen/Osric

*Jon Weinberg

Marcellus/Guildenstern/(voice)Player Lucianus/Messenger

*Curt Bonnem

Lead Demon/Priest (Choreographer)

*Terra Shelman

Demon

*Ashley Ann Michaels

*denotes member of one or more of the 4A actor unions

Director

Gary Lamb

Music Director/Live Accompanist/Composer

William A. Reilly

Assistant Director/Stage Manager

Kimberly Bullock

Production Design (Sets & Costumes)

Dean Cameron

Light Design/Technical Director

Doug Rynerson

Sound Engineer (Las Vegas)

Jeff Lee

Sound Engineer (Pasadena)

Bradford Craig

Fight Choreographer

Louis Roth

Props

Joanne McGee

Painter

Jack Walton

Costume Assistant

Dick Magnati

Publicist (Los Angeles)

Philip Sokoloff

Company Photographer

Neil Reinhold

Producers

Gary Lamb, William A. Reilly, Matthew J. Williamson, Kimberly Bullock

Shakespeare in the Park sticks to the script

By ANTHONY DEL VALLE
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Something unusual happened over the weekend at the Clark County Government Center. Vegas got a "Hamlet" that was full of vision and still loyal to Shakespeare.

Los Angeles Crown City Theatre Company's Gary Lamb, directing for Henderson Arts Council's Shakespeare in the Park series, turned the Bard's tale of a young man seeking to avenge the death of his father into what felt like a dream.

Lamb delivered a traditional production in set and costumes, but gave the events of the play a melodramatic overtone.

An accompanist (composer William A. Reilly), seated far stage right, commented on the dramatic action with some old-style piano playing.
Four black-hooded creatures in skeletal white face (choreographer Terra Shelman, with locals Chelsea Bernier, Cassie Butcher and Breaana Joy Skagen) observed the proceedings and reacted with interpretative movement and occasional nightmarish whisperings (it was "Macbeth"'s three witches on vacation in Denmark).

An eerie, angelic vision punctuated the final tragic moments, as if to tell us it was now okay to wake up.

What was skillful about all this was how Lamb managed to prevent the atmosphere from feeling like a gimmick. The music and the demons didn't upstage the world of the play. They were perfectly proportioned so that they "belonged."

The mostly union cast delivered a professional level performance.
Joanne Marie was a particularly moving Gertrude (Hamlet's mother). She made her character a vulnerable woman who had trouble keeping up with the fast-paced events.

Vsev Krawczeniuk was an amusing Polonius (the father of Hamlet's girlfriend) who managed to convince us he belonged both in the world of royalty and idiots.

Matthew J. Williamson in the title role…played the prince as a sane, down-to-earth man who simply gets very angry, and that's legitimate.
This production… was intelligent and entertaining.
And it's rare that we get a piece of theater built on a creative director's strong and logical point of view that remains nurturing enough to allow the script its proper life.

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