by Maria Staiano-Daniels
Daily Lobo
"To be, or not to be: that is the
question."
If you do not recognize this quotation,
you are either an alien or
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an uncultured slob. Fortunately,
all you slackers or martians have
a wonderful chance to learn about
Earth culture from William Shakespeare's
"Hamlet," starting March
17 at the Vortex Theatre.
Making what must be the seven billionth
production of "Hamlet"
worldwide fresh was a challenge for
director Peter Kierst.
Kierst rejected the approach of
many directors, which is to reset
the play into modern times, or into
outer space to try to get people interested
in it. Instead, Kierst said,
he wants to put Shakespeare's intent
on the stage as simply as possible.
"My approach was to strip everything
away and look at the text," he
said. "The three essentials of this
production are Shakespeare, actors
and audience. Everything else
comes in after that."
To focus in on these essentials,
the Vortex production will use simple
costumes, and nearly bare sets.
Debbie Kierst, theater teacher at
Sandia Prep and wife of the director,
plays Gertrude in this production.
She said such minimalism
helps to make this production of
"Hamlet" fresh.
"What a production like that does
is force people to hear the words
and force actors to say the words,"
she said. Debbie said focusing on the text
and not the spectacle of extravagant
sets and costumes will help the audience
get into the story, which
might surprise them.
"I think it's going to be a much
deeper, more focused, more
thought-out production," she said.
She said the director and cast
have made some interesting choices
for the play, which may help
make it different. For example, in
this production Gertrude is several
years older than Claudius, and was
having an affair with him before her
husband's death.
Chad Brummett, who plays Hamlet,
wants to make sure he speaks
lines, not quotes. This is a real challenge
for an actor playing the most
quoted character in the English language.
Brummett said the craft of
acting itself helps to keep him from
merely giving rote speeches.
"If you understand why Hamlet's
saying it, the lines move out of being
quotable and become intentional,"
he said.
Brummett has done his homework
in preparing for this role. He
started preparing for the audition in October, and he spends about
five hours on rehearsal and script
analysis every day.
Despite, or perhaps because of,
this intense focus on the script,
Brummett loves Shakespeare. He
said the poetry and drama of Shakespeare's
plays are a joy to perform.
"If you let the language do most
of the work, people will think you're
making an excellent performance,"
he said.
Peter also loves Shakespeare's
plays.
" H e ' s t h e mo s t r e w a r d i n g
playwright to work with as an
actor or director," he said.
He hopes the audience will leave
their preconceptions about Shakespeare
at the door.
"People get the idea that Shakespeare
is boring, which just flabbergasts
me," he said. "It's only when
it's done badly that it's dull. Our
production better not be dull."
As old Bill himself would say,
"The play's the thing." He would
also tell you to go see "Hamlet" at
the Vortex, and who can disobey
the immortal Bard of Avon?
