The young cast play Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia and Horatio, a quartet of Shakespearian origin thrust into a contemporary world full of confusion, anarchy and misplaced patriotism. | "The play soon began to jump between dimensions of time and space" | |
The play is set in Denmark but resembles modern-day America. It opens in familiar circumstances: King Hamlet has been murdered and the children are gathered in Denmark for the funeral. Despite the well-known scenario, the play soon began to jump between dimensions of time and space, and it quickly became apparent that this would be something quite different to the Shakespearian classic! From the outset, the characters struggle to come to terms with the King's death and Hamlet's heroic status. The script is almost entirely original, and much of the show deals with a deconstruction of American youth culture with its consumer society and dependence upon iconic individuals. Jessica Almasy's Hamlet is paranoid, vulnerable and often withdrawn; a reluctant idol characterised by ill-fitting formal attire and a tendency to hide under the table. Manic Kristen Sieh puts in a fabulous performance as the increasingly manic Ophelia, with a faux-Danish accent and preoccupancy with looking pretty and remembering to smile.  | | Ophelia and Laertes |
Laertes (Brian Hastert) is the smartly dressed, cellphone-carrying politician,
all too aware of the media's influence, and constantly pushing Hamlet to meet his country's expectations. Horatio (Jill Frutkin) represents the American everyman, "a voyeur and a citizen" trying his best to help his friend but seemingly at a loss as to how to do any good. Horatio 'films' parts of the play to create a home-movie-style documentary, with a television above the stage showing the audience what is appearing on camera. I have to admit I found it quite hard to follow both the screen and the stage during such a fast-moving production. Minimalist The actors made good use of minimalist staging comprising just a couple of chairs, a table and two staircases in addition to the camera and TV screen. The soundtrack to the play was definitely a plus point, adding to the confusion and emphasising the eccentricity of the show. Although, on a couple of occasions the music was just a bit too loud and obscured what was being said. With the impending apocalypse, Denmark is on the brink of collapse and the characters become increasingly desperate as they try to come to terms with the breakdown of society. At one point Hamlet and Laertes square up to each other in a carefully choreographed boxing match, and soon afterwards all four join in an energetic rock concert rendition of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. I was suitably perplexed as to what either of these had to do with the story, but they were highly entertaining nonetheless! This was a bizarre, quirky and cynical production with excellent, if erratic, individual performances from all four of the cast members, in particular Kristen Sieh as Ophelia. Although I was bemused by its eccentricity and often at a loss to understand what was going on, I left the theatre with a sense that The TEAM are definitely onto
something here, even if I'm not sure what that something is! | 
