Shakespeare in the Park has become staple of the theatrical world. There’s just some deep, natural quality about Shakespeare’s work that lends itself so well to outdoor performance. Dallas’s own Shakespeare in the Park is located at the Samuell Grand Park Amphitheater, and the talk of this season is the current product of “Hamlet.”
“Hamlet” is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic tragedies, a tale of betrayal, vengeance, and loss spun in the kingdom of Denmark. Hamlet’s father has been killed by his Uncle, Claudius, who is has taken the late king’s crown and his wife as his own. Hamlet, learning of this treachery through the ghost of his father, sets out on a warpath for Claudius’s blood, a path that sparks the timeless debate between what constitutes justice and where the line is drawn at vengeance.
Cameron Cobb, as Hamlet, had his work cut out for him with such a monumental part. He did better than most would be expected to do with such a complex character, but acted to the audience in a way that made it clear that he was performing.
In his performance, we became conscious of ourselves and felt removed from the play. During his “Get thee to a nunnery speech,” in which he inaugurates his ploy of insanity by spurning Ophelia to a nunnery, his anger was very present, but seemed completely undirected at anything. It was almost as if he was just very upset about something and Ophelia just happened to be there. When it came time for Hamlet to slip into madness, Cobb put a on a very convincing act, and his madness scenes were arguably some of his best, though he could’ve used a little more craziness. Given the incredibly daunting role of Hamlet, Cobb did admirably. Not the best, but certainly no at all the worst.
Jenny Ledel very cleverly balanced Ophelia’s utter madness at the loss of her Hamlet with the girl desperately gripping to her sanity. The moment in which she truly loses herself, after Hamlet scorned her in the aforementioned scene, her upstage walk, in which she loosely dragged her feet across of the stage, was unnerving and gripping, effectively conveying her slip from sanity.
Constance Gold Perry excellently blended the pleading, desperate queen with the loving mother as Gertrude. She had moments of true tenderness with Hamlet in Act II, and brought an authenticity to her motherly character that was a bright light in a sometimes dim room.
Unfortunately, most of the actors were painfully static throughout the performance. Characters would file in, take their places, say their lines, then leave. Little to no action, gesturing, or direction, much less motive, ever occurred during dialoague.
When Gertrude is poisoned at the end of Act II, her husband,Claudius, seemed completely fine with it, and so did she. This general theme did not aid the fact that keeping the attention of the audience was difficult outdoors.
The lighting and music, however, was surprisingly good. The stage was bathed in a neutral yellow or pink during most scenes, but turned on the characters, shifting into an eerie blue, whenever nature’s law were violated, such as scenes of murder or madness. When such a light shift would occur, the music would begin to play backwards, really jarring the audience into the realization that something was very rotten in Denmark.
One issue with Shakespeare in the Samuell Grand Park is the lack of immersion. If you cannot be drawn into the show and believe the illusion before you, then the message and the power of the production is lost. This park is located right off ERL Thornton Freeway, not to mention on a helicopter path. Noise distractions aside, the setup just isn’t suited for theatrical productions. The audience is so spread out in comparison to such a small stage filling the line of sight of the viewer that you just can’t ignore the fact that you’re very obviously looking at a stage and watching people say lines.
There’s no immersion like there is in a traditional theater or an actual amphitheater (it’s really just a sloped lawn with a stage at the bottom, not like the traditional circular amphitheaters that come to mind). A show just cannot be moving unless you meet the bare minimum requirement of immersion, and this show did not hit that mark. It’s an interesting production to see.
Hamlet runs at the Samuell Grand Park Amphitheater from Sept. 21 – Oct. 16.
