Alas, poor Yorick, muses Seth Trucks as Hamlet muses to Breanna Michel as Horatio in Thinking Cap Theatre’s production (Photos by by Tabatha Mudra. )
By Aaron Krause
Live theater allows us to empathize with others and navigate difficult topics, including grief. Consider, for example, Thinking Cap Theatre’s (TCT) powerful, modern-set production of Hamlet, which runs through Nov. 21 at the Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center.
The mounting, under TCT Producing Artistic Director Nicole Stodard’s thoughtful direction, takes place in a meeting room for members of a grief support group. These people have gathered to process their emotions through live theater by acting out Hamlet, William Shakespeare’s great revenge tragedy, written sometime between 1599 and 1601. The performance lasts about two hours and 45 minutes, including an intermission.
In the program, Stodard notes that nine actors perform principal roles and function as the bereaved, while three actors perform multitrack roles and represent grief counselors. The production includes a touching bookend: after the play ends, the group members regather and, with their arms around each other, proclaim that they choose To Be over Not to Be.
When you read in the program about Stodard’s personal experiences with grief and how she has previously combined grief support with live theater, it’s easy to understand why the director would adopt such an approach here. However, the title of the fictional grief group in the production, To Be Or Not To Be Grief Group (with Not to Be crossed out), gives you pause. That title sounds more like a suicide prevention support group than one dedicated to grieving. Further, the production doesn’t develop its framing device as well as it could.
At the beginning, Seth Trucks, the actor portraying the titular character (and one of the support group members), thoughtfully launches into Hamlet’s famous To Be or Not to Be soliloquy. The framing device involving the group doesn’t reappear until the production’s hopeful ending. We don’t learn anything about the support group members or the group’s mission, leaving us to infer the group’s purpose and missing an opportunity to emotionally connect with the support group members. We also never learn the identities of the bereaved or the grief counselors.
For many, Hamlet, which artfully captures the messy, contradictory depth of the human mind and resists simple answers, needs no introduction. However, a refresher can reorient people who haven’t encountered the piece in a while. This Shakespeare tragedy follows Prince Hamlet of Denmark as he seeks revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who murdered the titular character’s father to steal the throne and marry his mother. The title character’s tragic flaws, which include indecision and overthinking, ultimately contribute to Hamlet’s death and that of others.
Stodard’s solid direction honors the play’s seriousness while incorporating modern touches that enhance the piece’s relevance, add humor, and take advantage of technology’s benefits. Video projections (designer Bree-Anna Obst) help reinforce physical locations without requiring excess scenery. For instance, during the graveyard scene, the gravediggers appear to stand below ground and handle shovels, while an anvil cart rests nearby. Meanwhile, a slide of a cemetery appears on the projection screen, helping place us in the graveyard.
The production also includes trumpet playing of modern songs that elicit chuckles, leavening the play’s seriousness without disrespecting the material. Toward the end, everyone is led to believe that an upcoming sparring match between Laertes and the title character is a friendly competition. TCT’s production includes referees wearing signature striped uniforms (Stodard designed the mood-appropriate costumes) and a scoreboard.
But the battle’s intensity and the high stakes leading up to it leave us no doubt that these characters aren’t playing around. There is, however, one exception. At the beginning, when the framing support group meets, one of its members picks up the skull on his seat and briefly plays with it, as though it were a ball. This seems inappropriate in an emotional support group setting.
Stodard paces the production well, keeps movement purposeful, and knows when to heighten the intensity and when to lighten the atmosphere. The result is a production that is fully faithful to the play’s gravity, with just enough levity to offset its severity. Ordinarily, after Ophelia (Autumn Kioti Horne) goes mad, she hands out symbolic flowers and herbs. In TCT’s production, she appears to hand out pills, which circles back to the beginning and the question of whether the gathering is more appropriately a suicide prevention support group. Ophelia’s handing out pills seems to function as a cautionary message.
The production features uniformly strong acting, with naturalistic portrayals by performers who not only speak the Bard’s complex language but also understand and clearly convey its meaning. Cast members also emphasize words effectively.
Seth Trucks is older than the 30-year-old title character. But Trucks, wearing a red cap and dark clothing, delivers a textured performance that makes the title character a complex individual who is clearly going through a rough patch. He can be horrified, as when he encounters the ghost, but he can also be touchingly vulnerable, anguished, and desperate, as when he begs his mother not to continue sleeping with his uncle.
At times, his head is down and he speaks in mournful tones, but he also believably explodes into spasms of deep anguish and anger that appear to rise organically from the circumstances. His hands shake, he shouts, and he violently dismisses Ophelia as he thunders at her, Get thee to a nunnery. While Trucks’ performance includes big choices, the prolific, award-winning actor handles subtlety with equal skill. His softer tones believably convey Hamlet’s emotions as effectively as his louder voice. With clear determination, speaking softly and standing close to the audience, Trucks’ Hamlet tells us he’ll hire actors to play a scene that may remind Claudius of his guilt (The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king!). It is as though Hamlet is letting us in on a secret.
Trucks’ Hamlet can be pleasant and instructional, as when he directs the players before their performance, but he can also grow bitingly sarcastic and playful, as when he exuberantly grabs Claudius’s head and kisses it as part of his effort to act strangely to hide his true intentions.
Trucks skillfully conveys his character’s emotions not only verbally but physically. Observe as he shakes, paces, and falls to his knees, his head down in anguish. Almost as soon as he meets his good friend Horatio, Hamlet’s mood instantly brightens and he embraces his comrade. But his improved mood is short-lived; he seamlessly grows somber once again. When he’s contemplating killing Claudius, Trucks’ Hamlet approaches the praying man slowly, lending a quiet menace to his movement. As he goes in for the kill, though, he pulls back at the last possible second because he doesn’t want Claudius to go to heaven. Finally, Trucks is credibly thoughtful as Hamlet, reciting the famous To Be or Not to Be speech with a contemplative air. He takes his time.
With wide, dark eyes and a commanding demeanor, Daniel Llaca’s Claudius seems in control throughout. He smiles and returns Gertrude’s affection, kissing her hand, and appears gentlemanly, although somewhat arrogant.
When Hamlet starts acting strangely, Llaca’s Claudius seems more concerned about himself than about the prince’s well-being. As Llaca deftly plays him, Claudius’s reaction to the scene enacted by the players seems to shock him instantly. He jumps up and rushes out, as though he can no longer remain in the room after witnessing the scene that reminds him of his deadly deed.
Llaca imbues Claudius with credible anger and intensity, as well as a hint of slyness as he considers his next move. At one point, he sits on a desk, putting him literally on a higher level than his nephew. This could suggest that the new king feels as though he’s better than the prince. At other times, he huddles close to Laertes, as though conspiring with him to bring down Hamlet.
As confident and intense as Claudius appears at times, Llaca endows him with redeeming qualities. For instance, he’s not only affectionate with Gertrude but also displays sympathy toward Laertes. It’s anybody’s guess, however, how many of his good qualities are sincere and how many are masks concealing his true desires.
As Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, Carey Brianna Hart embodies a character who seems oblivious to Claudius’s deed. Happily, she dances with him, smiles at her new husband, and kisses him affectionately. Hart’s Gertrude is also a loving mother, and she seems genuinely hurt when her son yells at her. At one point, she shuts her eyes, as though she can’t bear to face her situation. Significantly, Hart’s performance makes us truly wonder how much Gertrude really knows.
As Laertes, Sergio Tamayo turns in a multidimensional performance that lets us see and hear, with equal clarity, the explosive and vengeful young man as well as the caring sibling to Ophelia. He links pinkies with her, gently strokes her hair and, later, leaps into her grave at her funeral. But he also shouts thunderously, appears convincingly anguished and, with deadly intent, spars with Hamlet. While pointing a gun at Claudius, he demands sharply that the new king tell him his father’s whereabouts.
As Ophelia, Horne delivers a heartbreaking performance as a young woman driven to madness by her father’s death. We sense her sincere love for her brother and her attachment to Hamlet (at one point, she clings to his back, as though she can’t bear to let him go). Since this production establishes Ophelia’s goodness, we long for that sweet young woman after she descends into madness. While appearing unsteady, she sings, seemingly carefree, but we know that she’s not in her right mind. As though she’s a circus performer interacting with a clown, she pins a clown nose on Claudius. She also engages in playful patty-cake, as though she’s a little girl enjoying her time with her playmate.
With wide eyes and an animated voice, Peter Wayne Galman makes Polonius seemingly oblivious to his long-winded ways. With sincerity in his face and voice, he notes that “brevity is the soul of wit” and then delivers a wordy speech quickly without tripping up. Galman is an experienced Shakespearean actor and is the founding artistic director of the Shakespeare Troupe of South Florida. It shows in Galman’s fine performance, during which he ensures that Polonius comes across not just as an eccentric man but as a devoted father who wants what is best for his children, Ophelia and Laertes. “To thine own self be true,” he tells his son, elongating the last word for emphasis.
In addition to the strong lead actors, TCT’s production includes a skilled supporting cast: an upbeat and sympathetic Breanna Michel as Horatio; a comically energetic Christopher Ross-Dybash and Logan Green as the eager and playful Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; and an intense Jonathan L. Palmer as the Ghost (his voice amplified to enhance the otherworldliness). The Ghost appears first as a mysterious figure on the projection screen and then in the flesh, suggesting that the spirit becomes increasingly real to Hamlet as the production progresses.
In addition to the performers, the company includes talented behind-the-scenes artists who bring the production’s world to believable, vibrant life.
Alyiece Moretto-Watkins’ set situates us in a space that suggests a memorial service or support group gathering is about to take place. In fact, the set design begins outside the theater, where we see a sign that reads To Be or Not to Be Grief Group, with Not to Be crossed out.
On the edge of the stage are neatly arranged photographs of people we may infer are deceased loved ones. The pictures are not just of humans but of their four-legged friends. This reminds us that our pets are beloved family members whom we miss greatly when they’re gone. At the beginning of rehearsals, Stodard asked company members to include such photographs and dedicate their work to these lost loved ones.
In addition to the photographs, a semicircular arrangement of chairs, tissue boxes, red roses, and candles hint that an emotional experience is upcoming. A lone white chair rests among black ones, reinforcing that hope exists even during the darkest of times.
Arturo Garcia’s lighting design clearly differentiates realism from non-realism. Bluish-green lighting establishes an otherworldly aura, while Garcia’s use of red comes at just the right time to accompany violence. Appropriately, the designer bathes the stage with bright lighting for upbeat scenes and dim lighting for asides in which characters address the audience. A bell sounds just before these asides, as though the characters have just thought of an idea (an uncredited sound designer also ensures that we can hear and understand each spoken word).
In the final analysis, yes, the framing device is a bit underdeveloped. But TCT’s production is generally riveting, touching and, when appropriate, comical. Framing this modern production through a lens of grief is certainly appropriate. That’s especially true when you consider that Shakespeare supposedly wrote the play after his 11-year-old son Hamnet’s death (notice the similarity to the name Hamlet). Some scholars, including Stephen Greenblatt, believe Hamnet’s death and the anticipated death of John, the Bard’s father, inform the play’s themes of loss and grief.
While Hamlet ends in tragedy, TCT’s production allows us to leave the theater on an upbeat, hopeful note after the support group members, in unison, proclaim “To Be!”
TCT’s production of Hamlet runs through Nov. 21 at the Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center, 1770 Monroe St. in Hollywood. 7 p.m. Wednesday the 14th, Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturday. General admission $49.87. For tickets, visit https://thinkingcaptheatre.org. 
