"Hamlet" Director Takes Play To New Levels at Berlind

Candace Braun

Love, deception, truth, truth withheld, insanity, and hunger are just some of the aspects of Hamlet that Director Michael Fish hopes to convey to his audience in his upcoming production at the Berlind Theatre.

Mr. Fish spoke at the Princeton Public Library last week about the different ways Shakespeare's tragedy can be performed, and how each director's interpretation of the text can make each performance unique.

The program was the last in the library's McCarter Live series.

Mr. Fish told his audience that the reason he chose to reinterpret Hamlet, as opposed to any other of Shakespeare's plays, is because, "it's one of those plays that speaks very personally and very deeply to anyone."

The director said that while there are many different aspects he could have focused on, he wanted to explore the domestic relationships by having a simple set and a cast of only eight actors, with some playing more than one part.

According to Mr. Fish, doubling up on the characters reintroduces a custom from Shakespeare's time, when actors often played more than one role in the same play.

"When you have Claudius also playing Guildenstern, it adds a whole other layer to the experience," said Rob Campbell, who plays only the role of Hamlet.

Asked if he finds it difficult to create his own image of Hamlet when so many actors in the past have already played the role, Mr. Campbell said that as the actor falls into the part, past productions begin to fade from his mind.

"When you're working on a speech of Hamlet ... ultimately you can't help but really experience it for yourself," he said.

Mr. Campbell said that he even flirted with the idea of playing the parts of both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, so that it would appear that they were merely voices in his head, and not actual people.

"It can really go anywhere ... the soul of the play is what it's about," he said.

Student Perspective

Mr. Fish is currently co-teaching a class on Hamlet with Michael Cadden, head of Princeton University's Program in Theatre and Dance. Students have followed the process of bringing the play to life, helping the director develop it by questioning aspects that he thought he understood.

When the students were first introduced to the idea of using an eight-member cast, they were very skeptical, said Mr. Cadden. But, after witnessing the play's first reading, "all their skepticism vanished," he said.

"I think the students were stunned to see how it changes the play.... Certain aspects of the play come across all the more clearly," added Mr. Cadden.

Explaining how each director has his own vision, Mr. Cadden recalled taking students to see a Shakespeare play in London last year, and then having them see the same one in Stratford-upon-Avon the following evening.

"It was barely recognizable as the same play," he said.

Along with the other changes he has made to the play, Mr. Fish said he has also changed the scene where Hamlet sees the ghost of his father.

"To me, the appearance of the ghost has been less about chains and smoke and more about Hamlet seeing his dead father walk into the room," said Mr. Fish, adding that by not using the special effects that usually accompany the ghost, he is making the confrontation appear more realistic.

Mr. Fish's acclaimed productions of Joe Orton's Loot, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest have been performed in regional theaters throughout the country.

He has served as an assistant and associate director for the Shakespeare Theatre and an associate director at the Ahomson Theater in Los Angeles.

Hamlet will be performed at McCarter's Berlind Theatre, from May 3 through June 19. For more information, call the ticket office at (609) 258-ARTS, or visit www.mccarter.org.