written by Joe Nickell | photo by Tom Bauer hoever first said, “You don’t mess with success,” obviously hadn’t considered the case of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Often considered the greatest drama written by history’s greatest dramatist, “Hamlet” has been subjected to countless revisions, adaptations and parodies over the 400 years since the troubled prince of Denmark first pondered “Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?” Outrageous fortune, indeed. Right from the start – as with many of Shakespeare’s plays – multiple versions of the text existed; three different originals are known to exist from Shakespeare’s time. Since then, the dense five-act plot of “Hamlet” has been shoehorned into the forms of opera and silent film, puppet show and movie musical. Then there are the spin-offs. Moviegoers will recall last year’s comedy, “Hamlet 2,” in which a high school drama teacher attempts to save his school’s drama program by writing and staging a sequel to “Hamlet” that involves Hamlet, Jesus and a timemachine. Disney’s blockbuster animated film, “The Lion King,” is loosely based on “Hamlet,” as is the 1983 comedy, “Strange Brew.” Among these many spinoffs, one work stands out: Tom Stoppard’s 1964 absurdist comedy, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.” Structured in mirror form to Shakespeare’s original plot, Stoppard’s play follows the action from the viewpoint of its own title
characters, a pair of Hamlet’s old school friends who play relatively minor roles in “Hamlet.” This December, the University of Montana’s drama department and Havre-based Montana Actors’ Theatre will present concurrent productions of the two great plays in Missoula. The dual productions offer a rare opportunity to explore two great, interwoven works in close proximity of time and place. Perhaps more importantly, the two productions offer a testament to the interwoven relationship between Missoula’s blossoming independent, professional theater scene, and the university program that feeds it.
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ive years ago, after all, a coordinated pairing of the two plays in Missoula would have been all but inconceivable. Though the University of Montana had long presented a full season of student-stocked productions, no stable independent professional theater existed in Missoula. MCT Community Theatre regularly produced musicals and plays, but that company runs under a different philosophy, oriented toward providing performance opportunities for amateurs in the community, and generally toward lighter, familyfriendly fare. Other independent groups occasionally put up individual plays, but none offered a full season of theatre. The first glimmer of change came when Montana Repertory Theatre – a UM-based professional company that has produced national tours of major plays for more than 40 years – established a locally oriented professional arm, dubbed Montana Rep Missoula. Under the artistic guidance of Greg Johnson, the new company began offering a smattering of plays at Missoula’s Crystal Theatre in
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