Lois Potter's Review of the
2006 Summer Production of
HAMLET

Hamlet is an ambitious choice for an outdoor production, especially when, on a warm midsummer evening, the play begins with characters talking about the "bitter cold."

But the benches of the Frank Stephens Memorial Theatre were filled with an audience whose ages ranged from seven to seventy—an audience that remained attentive, moreover, even when it seemed that every plane in the country had converged on this particular airspace.

Applause broke out, rather disconcertingly, at the end of several scenes and of the "To be or not to be" speech. Well, why not? It would have happened in 1906, when plays first began at Arden; that it still happens shows the longstanding love of amateur theatre in this village.

Though not all the actors are local, it remains true that well-known local faces appear in many roles and are recognized with delight by the audience. The program also credits an enormous number of volunteers, including a Thane of Parking and two people who found deer bones (presumably for the graveyard scene). And, as in the early days, the show begins with the arrival of the entire cast in procession across the green, singing "Over the Hills and Far Away."

Mary Catherine Kelley has directed a number of plays for Arden before, and she is always faithful to the spirit of the village's history, using a large cast so as to give local people—and their children—a chance to act. She is also faithful to the traditional reading of the play—no nonsense here about Hamlet being Oedipal, Marxist, existentialist or sadistic; he's the hero, and he's likeable enough to keep us interested for nearly three hours. Mark Cairns played him as both a genuine intellectual and a princely figure with an attractively light comic touch, making everything he did look easy.

Lightness in fact was a keynote of the production. Despite the horrific events of the play, we never brushed against real evil because the characters (in this respect very contemporary) had no real capacity for guilt. Just as the poised and stagewise children in the dumb show seemed more innocent than the characters they played, so did the adult actors. Claudius and Gertrude (James Kassees and Vicky Riego de Dios) were a warm and well-meaning uncle and mother who didn't know what to make of Hamlet's behavior. Polonius (Henry Moncure III), original as usual, was such a kind father to Ophelia that one could understand why this strong and intelligent young woman (Michelle Jacob) might go insane after his murder.

The surprisingly even cast included many interesting cameos like the cynical Reynaldo from Newton David Bugbee and the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern double act (Allan Kleban and David Hastings). Tim Donovan was excellent in his own double as the Ghost and Gravedigger, with Betty Solway Smith her usual delightful self as Second Gravedigger.

Like the traditional Hamlet of shortened productions, this one ended with Horatio's line, "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." Hamlet himself wasn't sad about dying, and we weren't sad either, much as we had liked him.

A contemporary reference to Shakespeare's play said that it could "please all," and that's what this production succeeded in doing. It's an ideal first Hamlet for children, but even those who have seen some thirty versions, like me, can enjoy the Arden experience as well.

Lois Potter is Ned B. Allen Professor of English at the University of Delaware and has also taught in England, France, and Japan. She is the author of a number of books on Shakespeare, Milton, and the history of drama.

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