REVIEW: GROSSMONT STAGECOACH PRODUCTION OF HAMLET IS “SOLID, GOOD—ON THE CUSP OF BEING GREAT”

By Alexander Nguyen

“Hamlet” is now playing at the Grossmont Stagehouse Theatre at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 16 through Thursday March 19. Matinee is on March 19 at 2 p.m.

March 14, 2011 (El Cajon)--Hamlet is the most revered and hated of Shakespeare’s plays, at least from an actor’s perspective. It is a role that has both made and broken careers. Even the noted Shakespearean actor Laurence Olivier once admitted to flaws in his earliest attempt at portraying Hamlet. There’s even a play titled “I hate Hamlet” by Paul Rudnick. The plot of Hamlet deals with emotions ranging from overwhelming grief to seething rage, from treachery to incest, from revenge to moral corruption. It is a leviathan task to take on, for sure. With that baggage in mind, the students at Grossmont College Theatre Arts Department did a commendable job.

The reason why Hamlet, the Black Prince of Denmark (so-called because he wears only black), is both reviled and loved by actors is that the character is not painted in black, but rather in shades of gray. A good actor must be able to portray the many nuances, or shades of gray, of the character. Hamlet, arguably one of the wittiest of Shakespeare’s characters, cannot come off as smart-alecky nor can he come off as a sullen, spoiled teenager. In short, Hamlet cannot be a jerk; Shakespeare says so himself, telling us in the play that Hamlet is loved by the Danes.

In this production, Jake Rosko (Hamlet) seems unsure initially of how to play up nuances of the character. Rosko reveals discomfort as the play begins and we are introduced to Hamlet--dark, moody, brooding and sullen (as teenage boys are wont to be) — hating life because his father, the king, died and his mother is now married to his uncle, the new king. Lost in Rosko’s interpretation of the new prince was the humor. Even though Shakespeare called the play, the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, there is a lot of humor in it. It is only toward the end when the murder, suicide and poisoning take place that the play turns dark.

Rosko, however, redeems himself when Hamlet feigned madness. Finally free of the shackles of a somber Hamlet, Rosko is able to let the witty Hamlet surface. It is as if he finally comfortable in Hamlet’s skin. It is through this interpretation that Rosko is engaging; we can see why Hamlet is beloved by the Danes and why the fair Ophelia falls in love with him, so much so that Hamlet’s rejection combined with her father’s death drove her to madness. After all, Hamlet was never described as ruggedly handsome (not that Rosko is bad looking), so the attraction is more than skin deep.

Speaking of Ophelia, Kylena Parks shines in this role. Her portrayal of Ophelia’s madness caused by her father’s death is heartbreaking. Parks uses her beautiful soprano voice to make the scene that much more haunting. It is regrettable that Park is not able to show us more of Ophelia because of cuts in the text for timing.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare gave us the best advice for acting in his plays. Through Hamlet, he tells us, “Speak the speech I pray you as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.” Unfortunately (perhaps because the scene was cut), some of the student actors seem to “mouth” the words, rather than “speaking it,” that is, recite the text rather than act it. In the opening scene, when describing the bitter cold and the strange phenomenon that they have witnessed, namely the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the soldiers delivered the lines as though they were in the middle of Pacific Beach in the heat of summer rather than the bitter cold night of the Danish winter. They should heed Hamlet’s advice and “suit the action to the word, [and] the word to the action.”

The mounting of any Shakespearean productions is fraught with danger, from making the language accessible to the audience to the pacing; one wrong move and it can spell disaster. Director Jeanette Thomas should be commended for making sure the student actors understand the language and are ably communicating the meanings to the audience. As she noted in her director’s note, we now live in the age of Twitter and Facebook; in our frenetic life, the average attention spans have gotten shorter. So, too, must Shakespeare. Thomas employed some very judicious cuts to keep to pace going. The 2 ½-hour production, though it didn’t feel that long, moves at a steady pace overall to keep the audience engaged. However, because of Thomas' emphasis on pacing, she did not allow the audience time to let certain moments sink, and thus, some important and weighty lines were lost.

Thomas also makes some unusual directing choices. For example, she likes having the actors perform the scene at the stage’s edge while leaving center stage fully lit, thus, drawing attention away from the scene. Thomas also under uses Craig Everett’s beautiful split-level stage, leaving me to wonder, “What’s the use of building the split level if you’re not going to use it?”

In this production of Hamlet, the student actors benefitted from having veteran San Diego actors Paul Morgavo and Ralph Johnson, whom audiences are familiar with from Starlight stage, anchoring the show. Their capable handling of Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, and the bloviating Polonius, respectively, give the student actors a strong foundation to build on.

Though this production of Hamlet does have its flaws,  they are easily overlooked. The students did an excellent job of bringing the bard’s words to the audience.

The beautiful set and costumes, and the capable acting by the principal actors make this an enjoyable experience. The show is solid, good — on the cusp of being great.

“Hamlet” is now playing at the Stagehouse Theatre at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 16 through Thursday March 19. Matinee is on March 19 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $11 for seniors, military, and faculty/staff of the Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District, or $10 for GCCCD students with ID. For more information, call (619)644-7234 or visit www.Grossmont.edu/theatrebrochure.