The Department of Performing Arts opened a gem of a play Wednesday night. "I Hate Hamlet," written by Paul Rudner and directed by Carl Menninger, is the perfect counterpoint to their concurrent production of "Hamlet." The two plays run in repertory with alternating performances at the Greenberg Theatre until Feb. 24.
"We decided we wanted to do the semester around 'Hamlet,'" Menninger said of the selected play. "You couldn't get anything more contrasting to 'Hamlet' than this."
The play starts too fast, but the cast quickly settles into a rhythm that allows them to play with the humor in Rudner's script.
"A lot of the lines are from 'Hamlet,' even if most people don't notice," Menninger said. "People who know the play really well will appreciate all of his references to Hamlet and the clever way [the writer] incorporates them into the script."
The story focuses on TV soap opera star Andrew Rally (Will Luri?, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences), who inadvertently summons the ghost of John Barrymore (Barron John Weyerhaeuser, a junior in the School of Public Affairs) as he prepares to play Hamlet at New York's Shakespeare in the Park.
Luri? turns in a solid performance but Weyerhaeuser steals the stage the second he staggers down the stairs onto it. Dressed to the nines with knee boots, cape, tights and codpiece, Weyerhaeuser perfectly captures Barrymore's outrageous persona without turning to caricature.
"The costume helps me get into character," Weyerhaeuser said. "He's a very sexual and seductive man, and that's not typically the character I'm cast as. It was very refreshing to take a stab at that, but the costume is just ... there aren't words. I mean, tights!"
But the tights actually work. In fact, one of the biggest technical stumbles of the play is depriving Luri? of a more appropriate costume for his final scenes. The spandex pants do not do his character justice.
The supporting cast is full of memorable characters. Particularly unforgettable are Deirdre McDavey (Jacqueline Salamack, a freshman in CAS) as Rally's Shakespeare-obsessed girlfriend and Gary Peter Lefkowitz (Nyk Schmalz, a junior in CAS) as Rally's former agent from Los Angeles.
Salamack's performance is a pleasant surprise because she absolutely commits to the role, and in doing so makes a ridiculous character completely believable. Freshmen rarely execute their roles so well, and the DPA should be excited to have her in the program.
Moreover, she and Luri? have chemistry. On-stage kisses are traditionally a weakness for the program, but Menninger has apparently found a way to overcome it.
"Relationships are always a challenge in a play and even more so in a comedy," he said. "But they really found the romance in this play."
Schmalz has similar success as the smarmy and slightly dim-witted Hollywood agent who tries to talk Rally out of Shakespeare and back to L.A. and television. Many students will be able to sympathize with his distaste for Shakespeare. But he remains convincing, playful, never allowing his character to venture into the manipulative and cruel. It makes his Lefkowitz utterly likeable.
In a play full of spirits, sexual conquest and sword fighting, it is Rally's relationships with these characters that make the play interesting and fun.
This is the perfect show for students intimidated by the complexities and long run-time of the more traditional "Hamlet." The DPA should be proud of having found a creative way to incorporate those students into the Shakespeare festival.
"It is a nice balance between shtick and humanity," Menninger said. "I am thrilled with how they took the ball and ran with it."
But the cast gives most of the credit for their success to their director.
"Carl has been great for this cast, because we are very invested in the show but we like to have fun, and so does Carl," Weyerhaeuser said.
"Whatever is on that stage that might be good reflects his leadership, his patience, his energy and his constantly positive attitude"
