Shakespeare’s Hamlet is reimagined with a modern twist in Shakespeare Society’s Fall production of Hamlet. It’s Hamlet but if he was a moody emo teen in the early 2000’s who is playing a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign Dungeon Mastered (DMed) by his friend Horatio to cope with how his mother married his late dad’s brother.
To distinguish between real life and in the D&D campaign, Shakes made the very effective choice of designating the proscenium stage as player Hamlet’s room, and the center aisle and sides as the setting in-game. Player Hamlet’s room is covered in posters for classic emo bands like My Chemical Romance and other alternative genres. The modern setting for player Hamlet also allows for fun references to media that the audience knows. When Hamlet makes his friends swear on a sword, player Hamlet pulls out a lightsaber instead! In contrast to real life, character Hamlet and other characters are dressed in medieval regalia classic to Shakespearean plays. Characters and their alliances are easily distinguishable by the excellent costuming and make-up work: green for Polonius and his family, red for Claudius and Gertrude and so on.
The concept, while initially appearing disjointed from the original setting of the play, medieval Denmark, actually flows seamlessly with the text and often adds an interesting layer. Hamlet is a play known for its many, many long monologues. D&D Hamlet spits Hamlet’s monologues masterfully between player Hamlet and character Hamlet, making the sections more digestible. It was enjoyable to watch how reality and the game began to blur. Friends of player Hamlet disappear when they get removed from the campaign. Until the final moments of the play, when all characters lay dead or bleeding, player Hamlet leaves the proscenium stage and reality for the floor and watches as his character counterpart dies from the consequences of revenge and hate. The focus of D&D Hamlet is really the inner turmoil of Hamlet, and it places less emphasis on the politics of his being the prince of Denmark.
The various actors all did a phenomenal job at their roles. Gillian Sellect ’29 as character Hamlet brought the often somber yet passionate feelings of Hamlet to life. Olivia Cheng ’29 convincingly portrayed Hamlet as a teenager overcome with emotions and still fighting with what is the right thing to do. Catie Macauley ’26 brought such tempered yet corrupted ambition to Claudius. Gertrude, played by Ava Orcutt, was able to shine as matriarch and just another person tangled up in this drastic web. Aaliyah Chen ’28 once again shows their aptitude for portraying explosive and driven characters with Laertes and his many fights with Hamlet. Who can forget the humorous character of Polonius played by Phoebe Porder ’28? Polonius, under her care, provided both levity and depth to the show. Annabelle An ’29 did complete justice to Ophelia, taking her through her immense love and her immense grief.
Every actor was phenomenal, along with the crew and director. With sold-out shows abound, the Shakespeare Society’s D&D Hamlet was a resounding success. We are all excited to see what wonders they can work with their spring semester production of Much Ado About Nothing.
