A New Twist on Off-Broadway’s Hamlet: A Trusted Friend Could Be As Lethal

New York City – Boris Akunin’s Hamlet. A Version, an off-Broadway show on the Theater at St. Clement’s is an up-cycle of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy mounted on stage. Here we see a reinvention of a major character that sabotaged the downfall of the Kingdom of Denmark. In the beginning of the 1-hour-40-minute show, one would think Horatio was just the modern infusion of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But wait till the end.

The entire cast is splendid in their acting, and are clothed in fine era costumes. In this version of Hamlet, what is evident is the untypical characters of Hamlet himself (Matt Weiss) and Horatio (Khris Lewin) which is a departure from the age-old classic Shakespearean performances.

And so I see a bouncy, loud but confused novice prince in Hamlet and a cool, modern Horatio, who in his leather jacket, is like an alien in the late middle ages. Directed by Irina Gachechiladze, it is a fine melding of the actors in their traditional Shakespearean style, with the modernity of Horatio and Hamlet, and the comic of Guildenstern (Michael Propster) and Rosencrantz (Owen Scott).

Ophelia (Claire Brownell), Gertrude (Joy Hermalyn), Claudius (James Phillip Gates), Polonios (Alan Ross), and Laertes (Michael Sweeney Hammond) are superbly portrayed.

The music compositions by Giya Kancheli are moving. The technical aspect of the ghostly apparition is a failure. For digital theatrics, I expect a spectacle of light or smoke with an impression of a king but it seemed like I am looking at the silhouette of a dark alien.

Hamlet. A Version is loyal to the accepted themes of Hamlet: a confused, torn prince, the wily sexual and political opportunist uncle King Claudius, the equally ambitious Polonius, and the tragedy of Ophelia. But it is not quite forthcoming in the end that Horatio proved to be the most lethal character who betrayed his friend Hamlet and condemned Denmark to destruction.  Akunin is brilliant.