Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
Upon entering the space, the audience is immediately confronted by the image of Hamlet playing with the cube of life-sized jenga blocks on the stage. He plays in silence for 30 minutes. Then, as the music of the play beings, he topples over everything he's made and the first scene takes place.
The designs of this production were based on the ideas of playful fashion and decay, which was a popular theme in fashion at the time. So here we have a decaying ghost.
The perform the Murder of Gonzago
Upon entering the space, the audience is immediately confronted by the image of Hamlet playing with the cube of life-sized jenga blocks on the stage. He plays in silence for 30 minutes. Then, as the music of the play beings, he topples over everything he's made and the first scene takes place.
In this two-hour cut adaptation of Hamlet, ten actors play all the roles, with doubling of Laertes and the player King, Polonius and the grave digger, and others. The emphasis in this production was on play theory. We made it in total surround with acting happening above and behind the audience as well as underneath them at times. The set was a cockpit of sorts with a HUGE oversized jenga set inside that the cast used to form and configure environments for scenes.
Scenic Design by David Leugs
Lighting Design by Steve Hiben
Costume Design by Amanda Ytzen