Above: The cast of Hamlet

Kate Ingram and Christopher Patrick Mullen

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Jim Helsinger
Gala Opening of the Goldman Theater (120 Seats)

The fine line between sanity and insanity is pushed to the limit in this Bare Bard production. The icy fingers of fear reach out from the grave in recrimination as the tormented Prince of Denmark questions what is real. A timeless dark drama.

David Hardie, Christopher Patrick Mullen, & Richard Width
S M T W T F S
February 2002       20 7pm preview (Post) 21 7pm preview (Post) 22 8pm Gala 10:30am* 23 8pm 24 2pm 7pm 25 26 27 7pm (Post) 28 7pm 10:30am*   March 2002           1 8pm 2 8pm 3 2pm 7pm 4 5 6 7pm (Post) 7 7pm 10:30am* 8 8pm 9 8pm 10 2pm 7pm 11 12 13 7pm (Post) 14 7pm 10:30am* 15 8pm 16 8pm 17 2pm 7pm 18 19 20 7pm (Post) 21 7pm 10:30am* 22 8pm 23 8pm 24 2pm 7pm

(Post) = Post show discussion
* = Student matinee - $8 admission - reservations a must

(407)447-1700 ext. 1

The Gravedigger (William Metzo) & Hamlet (Christopher Patrick Mullen)

Production Co-Sponsors:

Hy and Harriett Lake

and

Alan and Harriet Ginsburg

Teenage Scalpers try to get tickets to a sold-out performance of Hamlet

REVIEWS

A ferocious and feisty punk prince

The Orlando Weekly By Al Krulick
Published 2/28/02
Pictured Horation (Brent) and Hamlet (Christopher Patrick Mullen)

The best actors will tell you that it's all a matter of choice -- that there are millions of wrong ways to play a particular character, as well as thousands of right ones. The job consists of making a series of logical choices among the many right ways, and then following the character's "through line" to its inevitable end. In a play as well-known and as perfectly laid out as Shakespeare's masterpiece "Hamlet," the success of a production rests largely upon the leading actor's ability to defend his decisions unto death via the tenacity of his performance.

In the production of "Hamlet" now playing at the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, actor Christopher Patrick Mullen has made many excellent choices for his character's incarnation, and he enforces them with a brilliant and intelligent ferocity throughout three hours of intense theatricality.

Moving robustly between fits of tortured despondency and outbursts of incandescent realization, Mullen explores all the many facets of Hamlet's "madness" with the precision of a scientist and the exuberance of a rock star. Although other actors might have gone for a bit more subtlety in their depictions of the melancholy Dane, Mullen's breathless portrayal is always completely justified and logical.

Contributing to the correctness of Mullen's punkish portraiture is director Jim Helsinger's stark, discolike set, replete with psychedelic lighting and ethereal Pink Floyd background music. Two TV monitors, which are used to transform the various written letters in the script into videotaped epistles, hang from the ceiling, helping to turn Elsinore Castle into a basement after-hours club.

Pictured: Laertes (Richard Width) and Ophelia (Sarah Hankins) 
In many modern Shakespeare productions, the director's "concept" often overshadows the play's intent. In this case, the marriage of Helsinger's sharp-edged, metallic environment with the work's violent and steely atmosphere is a solid one. In another stunning example of his visionary staging, he has Hamlet's father's ghost inhabit Hamlet's own body and speak to us as a dangerous and otherworldly poltergeist. It's an eerie and frightening choice, but, once again, it fits perfectly.

Of course, no actor, even one as gifted as Mullen, can bring off this great tragedy alone. So, Helsinger has assembled a superlative cast of competent and well-trained players that he leads successfully through the dark shadows of Shakespeare's brooding, painful world. And wisely, he has kept the cast small (in order to fit the tight confines of the brand-new, 120-seat Goldman Theater space), doubling and tripling parts when necessary, but never accepting less than strong, clearly delineated characterizations from his ensemble.

Particularly excellent is William Metzo as Polonius, the king's chief minister and Hamlet's comic foil. Metzo's baritone elocution is a delight to the ear, and his savvy underplaying of this pivotal role is a delicious side dish to the plot's main course. After being dispatched by Hamlet in the "behind the arras" scene, he reappears later in the action as the witty grave digger and the flamboyant courtier, Osric, giving each role its own wonderful lilt and flavor.

Kate Ingram shines as Gertrude, Hamlet's guilt-ridden mother. The famous bedroom scene between the queen and Hamlet is overwhelming in its raw emotion and furious display of conflicting loyalties. Likewise emotional is the "get thee to a nunnery" scene between Hamlet and Ophelia, played by Sarah Hankins.

It all adds up to tragic acting at its finest -- compelling to watch even as it is difficult to sit through.

Powerful twist to classic tale

Excerpts from Review of Hamlet

The Orlando Sentinel
Elizabeth Maupin
Posted February 27, 2002
Pictured: Hamlet (Christopher Patrick Mullen) and the Players (Richard Width and David Hardie)

A Hamlet to remember ... a daring leap into the maelstrom that is Shakespeare's great drama... bold... elegant... spirited... there's power to spare in this Hamlet -- power in the intelligence with which the central players tell their story, power in the seething energy that shoots the actors across the stage and out into the house. If you've never before seen Hamlet, you'll be swept up by that energy. If you have, this Hamlet may make you look at all Hamlets in a different way.

                                                                 Last Updated: 05/06/2007                    Copyright Orlando Shakespeare Theater