“Man delights not me.”
—HAMLET, 2.2
When critics and artists talk about Hamlet, they frequently discuss its rich exploration of the human condition; they find these characters’ confrontation with grief and struggle with life to be relatable, even universal. When we take a step back, however, the overwhelming masculinity of the play comes into focus. Most frequently performed with only two female actors (Gertrude and Ophelia), traditional Hamlets leave a large swath of the human condition unexamined.
Shakespeare Repertory Project
HAMLET
“Women, in the West at least, have access to perform in any and every field of public endeavor, in theory at least. Could we not play the male leaders in our national playwright’s canon? […] We are continually broadening the definition of what a man or woman is, so couldn’t we be holding Shakespeare’s mirror up to the nature of a more current world?” —HARRIET WALTER, BRUTUS AND OTHER HEROINES By casting the play entirely with female and non-binary actors, this production seeks to explore questions of how patriarchy and the pressure of the masculine ideal have a hold on the power, privilege, and suffering that rightly belongs to everyone in this world. What do we learn when the space between actor and character is pried open? How does the human condition expand when more bodies are included? Can we see how patriarchy and the arbitrary nature of gender expectations harm us all? MARCH 6 AT 4PM & 8PM MARCH 7 AT 4PM ISEMAN THEATER, 1156 CHAPEL STREET —REBECCA ADELSHEIM, PRODUCTION DRAMATURG
2019–20 STUDIO SERIES