This review contains mild spoilers for Seabass Theatre Productions’ staging of Hamlet.
A nearly bare stage. The audience on two sides, voices hushed. Hamlet tied to a chair, his head lolling. From the very beginning, Seabass Theatre Productions Hamlet creates a new definition of the phrase ‘captive audience.’ Like young Hamlet, later discovered to be possessed by his father’s ghost, you will be glued to your seat by the unnerving soundscape, tense atmosphere, and hard-hitting acting.
Hamlet tells the story of the King of Denmark, who appears to his son Hamlet as a ghost and instructs him to avenge his murder by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. Claudius has not only taken the throne, but is now married to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Hamlet feigns madness, plotting revenge on his uncle, all the while struck with debilitating grief. The play ends with a fight, in which the King, Queen, and Hamlet himself are all killed.
Director Seb Carrington takes Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy and places it in a 21st century world of harsh white lights, lab coats and luminous blue poisons. This production aims to shock and the setting certainly achieves this. However, most effective is the transformation of the royal court into politicians in sharp blue suits and handheld microphones, addressing their public.
Equally inventive is the production’s use of sound. Advertised as being inspired by biosonification, or the creation of musical notes from the electrical signals in plants, this is a creative take on Hamlet’s description of the world as an “unweeded garden / That grows to seed.” Certainly, these sounds create a subtle but chilling background to the play’s tragic events.
While the setting captures your attention, what keeps it is the intense, unsettling performance of the actors. Gilon Fox plays a young, moody Hamlet. From a sensitive voice of reason, we watch him grow increasingly violent, until our sympathy for him drains away. This perhaps unusual choice presents Hamlet as so single-mindedly dedicated to proving that he is mad that he lashes out at those closest to him. In this bleak landscape, the swaggering Polonius (Cameron Spruce) adds a pleasing touch of comedy, while Horatio (Savannah Brooks) wins our affection. The actors’ strength is in their audience interaction: at first appealing for our trust, they eventually turn on us. When Hamlet pointed a gun at the audience member next to me, I was secretly relieved to be spared…
In a play so concerned with violence against women, Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover (Caitlyn Tan) could easily have been reduced to a victim. However, as she spirals into madness, it is perversely wonderful to see her take up space. From her haunting ballads to her chilling screams, she startles the men in power – and the audience too. Queen Gertrude (Maia Pendower) adds to this soundscape of female despair as she sobs, confronting her son’s downfall.
Moreover, this production is notable for its representation of physical and sexual violence on stage to convey Hamlet’s alienation of his loved ones. While his forced kiss on Guildenstern seems to come too early in Hamlet’s downward spiral, momentarily throwing off the tempo, later moments such as his intimidation of Ophelia are effective, and help the play get back on its feet.
In conclusion, Seabass Theatre Productions’ performance of Hamlet takes a well-known narrative and uses startling setting, soundscape and choreography to give it a shock of the new. Just remember: when Hamlet points a gun at you and asks, “Am I a coward?”, you should think of something to say…
[Hamlet, staged by Seabass Theatre Productions, is running at the music faculty in the Denis Arnold Hall Monday 10th, Wednesday 12th, and Friday 14th March]