Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Thomas Ostermeier’s German-language HAMLET impulsively plays up the madness, shifting the focus of the Bard’s play

• By drediman
• October 30, 2022
• No Comments

The Brooklyn Academy of Music scored an impressive coup this past week by simultaneously presenting both Ivo van Hove’s Dutch stage adaptation of A Little Life and Thomas Ostermeier’s audacious German-language take on Hamlet, the latter of which I attended last night at the Harvey Theatre at BAM Strong (I saw the former last week at the opera house and was stunned by it). That’s because Mr. van Hove and Mr. Ostermeier are arguably two of the most celebrated auteur directors currently working in global theater. Having seen both productions, I’m happy to report that both continue to successfully shock, awe, and thrill with their singular visions (you can read my review of A Little Life here).

As for Hamlet, I walked away from production largely exhilarated. To be sure, this is emphatically Mr. Ostermeier’s version of the famous tragedy, and not the one you were weened revere. Judiciously cut and slightly remixed (candidly, I’ve been waiting for a version to excise the gravedigger scene, which Mr. Ostermeier has!), the play is enacted in a large dirt box, as if to remind us of our inescapable fates. Throughout, the production takes to heart a famous line from another Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth: “Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing”. Indeed, acutely conscious of his own mortality and the futility of it all, this Danish prince acts out to the extreme, impulsively playing up the madness like no other interpretation I’ve seen. In doing so, key assumptions of the play have been upended, namely the culpability of Claudius in the murder of his brother. Additionally, Mr. Ostermeier further shifts the focus of the underlying work by finding pockets of wicked humor in unexpected places. It’s a testament to the director’s intimate familiarity with the play that the resulting psychological drama doesn’t feel forced upon the framework of the Bard’s play.

The video-heavy production revolves around Lars Eidinger’s magnetic, fever-pitched performance in the title role. It’s a fearless piece of acting that’s totally in the moment; the actor (who was also unforgettable in the villainous title role of Mr. Ostermeier’s Richard III) even incorporates elements of improvisation to compliment Shakespeare’s fourth wall-smashing soliloquies. Perhaps more than most Hamlet‘s I’ve seen, this one seems to take place completely in the Dane’s muddled mind (e.g., the interpolation of Gertrude and Ophelia, who are here played by the same actress). A such, it may not be the best rendition to acquaint oneself with the play; in fact, you may find it maddening in that capacity. Otherwise, you’ll likely find Mr. Ostermeier’s visceral Hamlet harrowing and theatrically daring.

RECOMMENDED

HAMLET
Off-Broadway, Play
Brooklyn Academy of Music / The Harvey Theatre at BAM Strong
3 hours (with one intermission)
Through November 5