"Hamlet" by First Maria at Teatro Circulo

As one of the great classics, I am always curious when I hear of a production of “Hamlet” like the one being staged by First Maria LLC at Teatro Circulo in the East Village. This show, which continues through March 20 is directed by Celeste Moratti and performed by a mixed American-Italian company. Performed entirely in English this staging was a participant in Milan, Italy’s 2013 “Hamlet Marathon.”

We all know the story of “Hamlet,” tortured prince of Denmark: his uncle kills his dad, the uncle marries his mom, he gets stuck on that fact, tells Ophelia he loves her, figures out his uncles deception, tells Ophelia he doesn’t love her, inadvertently kills his mom while trying to kill his uncle, Ophelia kills herself, Hamlet fights and gets killed by his only friend Horatio, before Fortinbras the Prince of Norway shows up, ready to fight the Danes only to realize that everyone is dead before he steps into the crown. Basically the ultimate story of a dinner party gone wrong. And here you thought burning the Brie was the worst thing that could happen.

First Maria and Moratti have their own take with this production. This staging is set in the late 70’s or early 80’s “during the wave of hedonism that abruptly ended with AIDS” this production strives to “frame the play in an awakening of conscience.”

The cast of this show includes Alexander Sovronsky (Hamlet), Celeste Moratti (Gertrude), Michael S.Kaplan (Polonius), J.B. Alexander (Claudius), Doria Bramante (Ophelia), TristanColton (Laertes), Nina Ashe (Rosencrantz/Marcella/Player Queen), Ross Hamman (Guildenstern/Bernardo/Player King/Gravedigger), and Collin McConnell (Horatio).  Additional chorus work features Markus Weinfurter and live music was performed by Francesco Santalucia and Papaceccio.

I must admit that, on the surface, the press materials for this production had me a little confused. “The elders of the play are either overwhelmingly present or in the case of Hamlet’s father, absent to the point of being a ghostly image of himself.”

As I recall [sic], the elders in Hamlet are hyper-present. Ophelia’s dad Polonius is trying to get into the head of his daughter to the point that she commits suicide at the first signs of trouble. Gertrude is all the way into the life of her son Hamlet in one of the most Oedipal relationships this side of the Middle Ages. The overarching obsessiveness of both son and mother are the whole reason anything even happens in this play! Maybe if Gertrude weren’t obsessed with her son and had set some parental boundaries, then he would have known his place in the world and either set off on his own or knelt down before his mother and his uncle and been obedient.  And Hamlet’s father, seen in the original staging as “ghost,” isn’t “overwhelmingly absent” he’s dead. He isn’t a “ghostly image of himself,” he IS a ghost! I am just overly cautious when a straight reading of the text is thought to be some revelatory event. Still this production was received with international acclaim so I can’t be too particular about things before I’ve even seen it.

After a gentleman took the stage and asked us to silence our phones, the lights went down and the show began. The cast assembled in the dark on the stage and we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

At a certain point you have to begin to wonder about technical glitches. There were some random popping sounds on the stage; a football team running through an emblem inscribed tarp might be the best way to describe it. Seriously though I began to wonder; one minute, two minutes, three minutes and more; what the heck was going on? The random stage rumblings took a more concerted tone and like a classic Voorhees horror film, there was this low whispering going on. This is something that would come back again; this was, I surmised, the “awakening of conscience” that the production teasers talked about. How interesting then that this awakening of conscience felt as though it were emerging from some sort of dream state.

Since the story here is well-trodden ground, I’d like to say a bit about the performances here. Mr. Alexander as Claudius had a good speech in the beginning but then I felt was grossly underused for much of the remainder of the play.

"...to sit or not to sit, that is the question" 

Ms. Bramante and Mr. Kaplan were both skilled as Ophelia and her father Polonius respectively. He spoke well for most of his time talking and had a commanding presence and even delivery that was a problem for some others in some parts. Ms. Bramante wasn’t breaking any new ground with her Ophelia but I have a theory about that which I’ll get to a little later on.

Mr. Sovronsky in the title role took us all for a ride. At points he was up; at points he was down. His brooding and scheming worked well for the most part when he was called upon. Some of the delivery had different pacing choices than I would have expected, but because this play has been done so often, everyone’s got their own take.

I was a tad vexed by some of the cuts/alterations made to the classic “Hamlet” text. I know this was not meant to be identical; in fact in the press material Ms. Moratti even goes so far to say that “her concept of Hamlet’s family is not particularly Danish.” So why then with all the cuts which were made did the director keep in place numerous mentions of Denmark? If this was meant to take place in 70’s or 80’s America why then didn’t the text reflect that more clearly?

Another thing that really had me questioning things were all of the divergent costumes. Ms. Bramante as Ophelia wore a peasant pilgrim dress that would have set her apart but would have been totally out of place in the rah-rah 80’s in America. As Gertrude Ms. Moratti seemed a tad disheveled. There were a number of times that several characters went from playing “cloaked background characters” to their title roles, but for her majesty, the changes were often too sudden.

One of the best examples of this is while Hamlet is casting his play-within-a-play he goes to find his “actors.” He only winds up using two Ms. Ashe (who was a vastly underused and very powerful variety of characters including Rosencrantz) and Mr. Hamman (who was also very capable and played Guildenstern among many other smaller parts) but still, Ms. Moratti was there. In her Gertrude costume. Stretching and “prepping” like she was going into the next scene as an “actor.” But they didn’t use her. Or put more succinctly she didn’t use herself. Or overused herself by leaping into this unused character for mere seconds. 

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse with this but in the very next scene she was sitting with Claudius watching Hamlet’s show. Which is where she should have been. So why then was she pretending as though she were going into the next scene as someone else? While still wearing Gertrude’s dress? It was just very disarming to see the transition played that way. I appreciate that the director was going for “activity” but Ms. Ashe and Mr. Hamman changed costumes many times. Most everyone onstage did; why then couldn’t Ms. Moratti? At the end of the play most of the shuffling, rustling, "activity" didn't serve much purpose.

What all these critiques get down to is the ultimate tragedy of First Maria’s production of “Hamlet.“ There is and always has been a very fine line for actors who act, actors who direct, and actors who do both. Alfred Hitchcock may have involved himself best for his time in his films. A quick walk-on and he’s done; never sacrificing the action going on onscreen to serve his own needs. This may have been the most glaring problem with this production; plenty of talent onstage and not nearly enough direction.

A director needs to sit in the audience and see the show for what it is. Not see it from behind the eyes of one of the principals onstage as Ms. Moratti has here. 

A perfect example of this backfiring is when Mr. Sovronsky is making a big comedic introduction of his play to the audience in the court. I watched as Ms. Moratti watched the actor playing the part and was laughing along with the audience in the theatre and in the play. Everyone cajoled along as Hamlet whooped and wailed. Were she really the mother of this man, Gertrude would have been appalled at his implied accusations that his uncle, her new beau, had killed Hamlet’s father. Claudius would have been just as mad right out of the gate and would have shut the whole thing down. Or at least had some sort of negative reaction! When the reading onstage to his scene was tepid nothingness, I surmised this as a haphazard directorial choice.

A few other things: There was a lot of singing which was really distracting. In the beginning there is a number where the whole cast is singing and you can’t really hear the lines; so you’re not really sure what they are singing about.

The whispering onstage reminded me of the “Friday the 13^th” franchise of films. It also evoked though “Macbeth.”  I was waiting for someone to erupt from the whispers with “bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!”

There is the scene with the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Horatio, Marcellus (or Marcella in this production) and Bernardo take Hamlet out to see the ghost of his father. In the text this action all takes place out on a platform. So when Hamlet is startled by the appearance of his father it’s only natural that his friends lurch for him so that he doesn’t leap from the ledge. Still because of the way the ghost apparition is presented here, there is no indication that they are on a ledge at all. Hamlet’s dad is surrounded by other cast members in their cloaks and they are all crawling around on the floor. So when Hamlet’s friends reach for him to hold him back, it seems to no particular purpose. It reads as though they brought him to this place that they told him they saw his father and then do everything in their power to stop him from approaching. It just seemed rather queer.

Speaking of the dead father, the actor who played him had no shirt for the whole show. His long hair and gruff beard evoked Jesus. Or Jared Leto. I wasn’t ever sure why he had no shirt or shoes on the whole show; it couldn’t have been comfortable.

I’m picking and I realize that. I appreciate that it is First Maria’s right to take this play and do whatever staging they want with it. I also appreciate that Ms. Moratti is an Italian born actress. But when Gertrude is onstage with her husband, with her son, or with anyone else, and you can’t really understand what she is saying, this is because there is no one there directing her. Some of her lines came out okay but a lot of times it was as though she had marbles in her mouth. All she needs to do is slow down and project! Like Ms. Ashe, Ms. Bramante, and all of the other males in the cast. The whole show really would have benefitted from stronger direction from someone who wasn’t a cast member.