Minnesota Fringe Festival 2025: "Hamluke"

Day: 5

Show: 16

Title: Hamluke

Category: Comedy / Drama / Puppetry / Kid friendly / Literary adaptation / Shakespearian elements

By: Nightfall Productions

Written by: Brad Erickson

Location: Rarig Thrust

Summary: The story of Shakespeare's Hamlet as told with the characters from Star Wars.

Highlights: Like The Book of Morder, this is a mashup that really makes sense and is cleverly done (written and directed by Brad Erickson, who also plays a few minor roles). But unlike The Book of Mordor, I'm really only familiar with half of this mashup. I've definitely seen Hamlet on stage more often than I've seen Star Wars movies or shows. I may have missed some of the references (there were several times when everyone laughed and I didn't know why), but I still enjoyed it and could appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into the character pairings (Darthius = Darth Vader + Claudius, Opheleia = Ophelia + Leia, Landocrantz = Lando + Rosencrantz, etc.) and coalescing of plot points. The lines feel like Shakespeare, including all the Hamlet greatest hits, but with Star Wars words and references thrown in. The cast is fantastic, with lots of familiar faces including but not limited to: Dylan Rugh, so beautifully earnest as Hamluke that I'd love to see him play Hamlet, except I'm afraid some of the Star Wars words would slip in, so similar, yet different, are the lines; Duck Washington as Darthius with the iconic breathing; Jay Melchior as the cocky Laersolo (casting Han Solo as Leia's brother making the flirting a bit weird); and Clarence Wethern as multiple characters include Polyodius with the cutest Yoda puppet in an Elizabethan costume. A soundscape of live music played by two musicians on various stringed and other instruments really adds to the storytelling and make it feel more special. The whole thing is so thoughtfully and cleverly created, including props and set pieces, much of which I probably didn't even catch. But even if you're not a Star Wars (or Shakespeare) person, it's a really fun and well done show.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

2024 Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona

Last weekend was my favorite Minnesota theater vacay of the year - the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona. I first attended the festival in 2018 with some of my Twin Cities Theater Blogger friends, and have been back every year since (not counting 2020 - the year that doesn't count), with those same friends, or different friends, or sometimes by myself. This is a smallest festival since I've been attending - only two shows with a company of nine actors, compared to twice that size pre-pan, but what's not smaller is the quality of the theater, the thought and care put into it by the entire team, and the community feeling of being at the festival. Two shows is better than none, and it makes it even easier to see everything in a short weekend trip. Or extend the trip by a few days and enjoy the lovely city of Winona, about a two-hour drive from the Twin Cities, with its ample opportunities for hiking, water sports, museums, shopping, restaurants, and other activities. The festival continues through July 28, so make your plans now for a quintessential Minnesota theater vacation!

"Hamlet" at the Guthrie Theater

To celebrate their 60th anniversary, the Guthrie Theater is presenting Hamlet, a special show in the history of theater and in the history of the Guthrie. When Sir Tyrone Guthrie began his experiment in regional theater in 1963, fortunately for us right here in Minneapolis, chosen out of a bunch of cities that applied as if for the Olympics, the first show was Hamlet. It was also the final show in the original building by the Walker Art Center, in 2006, before the Guthrie moved to the big beautiful blue building on the river. Current Artistic Director and director of this production Joseph Haj calls Hamlet "arguably the greatest play ever written in the English language." It's only fitting that this show is on the Guthrie stage 60 years later, along with a line-up of new works and reinvented classics, celebrating and continuing the Guthrie's long legacy. If you've been following along, you know that I am currently in New York City, seeing as many Broadway shows as I can. But what we have in #TCTheater is every bit as good, from the Guthrie's three stages to the newest theater company on a tiny stage somewhere across town. A big part of the Guthrie's legacy is that they have fostered and attracted talented artists who have gone on to start their own companies, helping to create the rich theater tapestry that I've been lucky enough to write about for the past almost 13 years. This excellent production of Hamlet is a culmination of the last 60 years as well as a move towards the next 60.

"Hamlet" at Park Square Theatre

The Guthrie is currently staging a fantastic production of Romeo and Juliet, and now, across the river, Park Square Theatre brings us an equally fantastic production of Shakespeare's other most popular and produced play, Hamlet. The two make a nice pairing; both are youthful and modern with fantastically talented and energetic casts. This Hamlet, adapted, directed, and designed by Joel Sass, features a condensed cast of just nine, some gender-swapping (which provides more roles for women in male-heavy Shakespeare plays), and what I would call a breakout performance by Kory LaQuess Pullam in the title role, except that he's been breaking out for a couple of years in #TCTheater. Last year the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers chose him as our favorite new artists/one to watch (a choice he's continually reaffirmed this year), and the StarTribune recently called him "the fastest rising prince of Twin Cities theater." If you're not yet aware of Kory's work, as an actor on various stages around town, as a playwright and artistic director of Underdog Theatre, or as a founder and improviser with Blackout Improv, you will be now. He leads a talented ensemble in an interesting and inventive new production of one of Shakespeare's best.

Fringe Festival 2015: "Breakneck Hamlet"

Day: 7

Show: 32

Title: Breakneck Hamlet

Category: Something Different

By: Timothy Mooney Repertory Theatre

Created by: Timothy Mooney

Location: Minneapolis Theatre Garage

Summary: A one-man show of Shakespeare's most famous play that includes every scene and comes in at under an hour.

Highlights: Timothy Mooney delivers an engaging, amusing, and respectful version of Hamlet that doesn't miss a thing, despite being less than an hour long. I've seen Hamlet many times (more than any other Shakespeare play), and yet I feel like I've gained new insights through this production. Timothy is a charming host as he leads us through every scene in the five-act play, sometimes describing the action, sometimes offering historical context, and sometimes reciting lines or monologues from the play. It's super fast but feels like a complete story, and Timothy delivers his adaptation with much energy, excitement, physicality, and a great use of the space at the Theatre Garage. You've probably seen Hamlet before, but you've never seen Hamlet quite like this.

"Hamlet" by Theatre Unbound at the JSB Tek Box at the Cowles Center

Shakespeare's not known for writing a lot of women's roles. Part of this is no doubt a practical choice - in Shakespeare's day women were not allowed to be actors so all of the roles were played by men. Theatre Unbound turns this idea on its head by casting women to play all the roles. They won an Ivey a few years ago for their all-female production of Julius Caesar, and since then I've been itching to see their work. For whatever reason, I haven't, until now. They are closing their 15th season with an all-female production of Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's most well-known plays, and perhaps one with the fewest roles for women (two). A talented ensemble of eight women play all of the roles in this epic and beloved play, bringing a new dynamic to the story while allowing the humor and tragedy of the original to take center stage.

This is an inventive ensemble-driven production of a familiar play. Director Leah Adcock-Starr efficiently moves her cast around the empty white space as they play multiple roles, sometimes in the same scene. Actors are rarely offstage; instead sitting in white chairs right in front of the audience when not participating in the action. Zoa Green provides a lovely and appropriate soundtrack to the story, making a full range of sounds with just a couple of guitars, sometimes played like a cello or a drum. Costume designer Lisa Conley has dressed the cast in soft layers of white and gray, with characters differentiated by a hat or jacket. The ghost of the dead king is represented in a beautifully creepy ghost-like way. Ensemble member Laura Mahler introduces each scene and reads stage directions in an expressive tone that matches the scene, which is an interesting choice (and a helpful one to keep all the characters straight). This, along with the actors' pre-show onstage warm-up, gives the show a more informal feel, almost as if we're watching a rehearsal (although a polished one).

Laura Mahler and Kathryn Fumie

No pronouns were changed to reflect the fact that the stage is populated with women, but at some point gender ceases to matter as you get caught up in the story of these complicated and damaged people. Hamlet's devastating grief and playful madness are brought to life with great energy by Kathryn Fumie. Bethany Ford Brinkley gives an emotional performance as poor mad Ophelia, and then becomes Rosencrantz (or is it Gildenstern?) with a slight wardrobe adjustment and a completely different way of being in her body. Muriel J. Bonertz is appropriately dark and devious as the fratricidal king, Gretchen Emo is the gullible queen, Kathleen Hardy offers some light moments as Ophelia's father, and Nicole Joy Frethern is her supportive and loving brother. And then some - part of the fun of this show is watching these women transform into multiple characters, most of whom happen to be men.

Theatre Unbound's Hamlet is a fresh take on one of the most well-known plays in all of theater. And not just because of the all-female cast, but also because of the small size of the cast and the playful, innovative, ensemble-driven style of the show (continuing through May 31, with discount tickets available on Goldstar)

"Jeffrey Hatcher's Hamlet" at Illusion Theater

Jeffrey Hatcher's Hamlet is not a one-man show of Shakespeare's Hamlet, starring one of Minnesota's best and most prolific playwrights. Rather it is said playwright's story about when he adapted Hamlet (with the help of an issue of Classics Illustrated, a comic book series that adapted classic works of literature into comic books) into a one hour play for his 5th grade class in the late '60s. The result is a funny, entertaining, relatable story about elementary school and its strange politics, as well as a glimpse into a young future playwright's mind.

You may know Jeffrey Hatcher as the author of such locally produced plays as Compleat Female Stage Beauty or Turn of the Screw, or the films Stage Beauty or the upcoming Mr. Holmes (in which Ian McKellan plays an aging Sherlock). But in the late '60s he was a precocious and somewhat nerdy 5th grader in Steubenville, Ohio (which he later used as a setting for several of his plays). A series of coincidences prompted him to suggest to his teacher that their class do Hamlet for their annual play, to which she agreed on the condition that he adapt and direct it. And so a playwright was born. Over the course of about 80 minutes and with great detail and enthusiasm, Jeffrey recounts the entire month long episode of adapting, casting, rehearsing, and performing the play. We learn about his classmates, and why each was perfectly suited for their role. We learn about the young playwright/director's struggles with crises including his leading lady losing her voice, and just what exactly is an arras and how can it be represented in a classroom? We also learn a bit about his relationship with his parents and what it was a like to be a kid in America at that time.

Jeffrey Hatcher reenacting his role of Laertes in his 5th grade play
(photo by Aaron Fenster)

Walking into the Illusion Theater I was a bit taken aback. Set designer Dean Holzman and crew have built a stage over what is usually the front section of seats, on which a detailed vintage classroom is constructed. The desks open up to reveal neat tricks and props, including what look like vintage toys and books that must have been dug out of attics or bought on ebay. On the blackboard is projected a series of images of the places and people discussed in the play. It feels a little like sitting with Jeffrey in his living room, looking through old yearbooks and photo albums as he describes what is obviously an important moment in his past.

Jeffrey Hatcher's Hamlet is not some dry lecture on Shakespeare, it's a celebration of the love of drama, and a nostalgic look at growing up in the '60s, as well as at that time in your youth when school is your entire universe, and your only worries involve the class project and the classmate you have a crush on or a vendetta against. Playing through October 25, Jeffrey Hatcher's Hamlet is a great way to open Illusion Theater's 40th anniversary season. Illusion's Producing Directors Michael Robins and Bonnie Morris just won the Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award, a deserving tribute to the great work they do at Illusion, so this is a great time to pay a visit to their lovely theater on the 8th floor of the Hennepin Center for the Arts. (Check out the great ticket deals available on Goldstar.)

"Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" by The Acting Company at the Guthrie Theater

I think it's safe to say that William Shakespeare's Hamlet is one of the best, most popular, and most produced plays in the world. Tom Stoppard's 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, made into a movie in 1990, offers us an alternate view of the story from the point of view of two minor characters who, yes, end up dead at the end of the play. The Acting Company, a touring Shakespeare company with close ties to the Guthrie, is currently presenting both plays in repertory. It's a brilliant idea, and since I'm a fan of The Acting Company and I love the idea of repertory (two or more plays with the same cast) I jumped at the chance to see both plays in quick succession - Friday night Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, followed by a Saturday matinee of Hamlet. The former is absolutely hilarious and wildly entertaining, and it gave me a double pleasure in viewing the latter - the great drama and well-known language of Hamlet as well as the "secret" knowledge of what may be going on behind the scenes with poor Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Hamlet

the fight scene in Hamlet

I'm sure you're all familiar with the tale of the Danish prince whose kingly father was murdered by his uncle Claudius, who then married his mother. It's no wonder he's in a bit of a funk. And that's putting it mildly; basically the play chronicles his descent into madness (or is it sanity?). Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost, who tells him that his death is no accident, so Hamlet plots to kill his uncle/father/ king with the help of his friends and a troupe of players. Let's just say it doesn't go well. It really is a beautiful play, full of drama with a bit of humor as well, with well-drawn complex characters. It's such an important and popular play that many of its lines have worked their way into our pop culture lexicon, including "the play's the thing," "the lady doth protest too much, methinks," "neither a borrower nor a lender be," "to thine own self be true," "brevity is the soul of wit," and my favorite, "the rest is silence." This is a great production, dynamic and compelling with a nice balance of light humorous moments and intense drama. And what a cast! I'll talk about them a bit later.

Hamlet chats with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
These two minor characters appear only briefly in Hamlet. They're old friends of Hamlet that his mother and uncle send for to help him out of his funk. Basically they're used, both by Shakespeare as a way to move the plot forward, and by Claudius to get to Hamlet and then send him away to England, which is the end of them. Stoppard's reimagining of the story sees them mostly sitting around waiting for their interactions with the world of Hamlet. They have many conversations about topics like death, fate, memory, and probability (the play opens with a long scene of flipping coins, which improbably land on heads 90 times in a row), and play silly games like questions (quickly hurling questions at each other until someone breaks and makes a statement). The main action of Hamlet occasionally interrupts their conversation, as they run into the troupe of players, receive their instructions from Claudius, and talk to Hamlet - a scene that's fast-forwarded as the actors mime words and move quickly while a garbled track of sped-up talking plays. We even see Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" speech, but we don't hear it as the focus is on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They seem to exist only within the world of the play; they have difficulty remembering their life before and seem to know that this is the end for them. It's really clever writing by Mr. Stoppard to create this story and these characters in and around the world of one of the greatest plays ever written; he really does add to greatness.

The thrill of seeing these two plays back to back by the same company is that the same actors play the same characters in both plays, so it really does seem like you're see flip sides of the same coin. The star of the shows is John Skelley as Hamlet. An Acting Company alum who's also frequently seen at the Guthrie (see last summer's gorgeously intense Long Day's Journey Into Night, for example), John is one of my favorite actors to watch because he's such a natural and present actor. This is no exception; his Hamlet is charming and funny at one moment, and crazy intense the next. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he's able to play it a little looser and more comedically; he has less to do but is able to have more fun with it, almost as if he's playing two versions of the same iconic character.

The other stars of the shows are the brilliant comedy team of Grant Fletcher Prewitt and Ian Gould as the slow-thinking Rosencrantz and the fast-talking Guildenstern. They work so well together and have such an easy and fun chemistry, perhaps because this is the end of their 6+ month tour. They're like Abbot and Costello, and somehow their interactions are made funnier by the fact that one is short and one is tall, one slow and one quick. Even their brief appearances in Hamlet are played to maximum comedic effect, or maybe it's just because I already knew and loved them. They even get to bring their comedy relationship to the roles of the gravediggers in Hamlet. I was originally hoping to see Hamlet first followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but I'm glad I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern first because it allowed me to seek for and find the comedic moments from that play in the more serious one.

The three leads are well supported by a great cast, including Andy Nogasky as Polonius (quite the comedian himself in both plays), Angela Janas as the sweet Ophelia driven to madness, and Patrick Lane and Jacqueline Correa as the king and queen. I find it interesting that each show has a different director (John Rando for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and The Acting Company's Artistic Director Ian Belknap for Hamlet), because there is some overlap of scenes. Obviously they worked together closely; sometimes scenes are played out very similarly in both shows, sometimes the same action but with a different tone, and sometimes quite differently. The technical personnel is the same as both shows play on the same set, comprised of classical arches and stairs (designed by Neil Patel), with the same gorgeous costumes by Candice Donnelly.

Sadly, The Acting Company is only in town for two weeks with these two great shows, through May 4. If you like classic Shakespeare, go see this fine production of Hamlet. If you like clever and fast comedy, go see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Or do yourself a favor and see both on the same day or back-to-back days for a deeper appreciation of both plays.

"Hamlet" at the Jungle Theater

I have a season pass to the Jungle Theater this year for the first time.  And I have to admit, when I saw Hamlet on the list of shows, I wasn't overly excited as I've seen it a few times.  But I've never seen Hamlet like this.  It's a truly inventive production that manages to make it feel current without changing any of the language or meaning of the piece. 

From the moment you walk into the intimate theater space at the Jungle, you know you're in for a truly unique Shakespeare experience.  Modern rock music is playing, and images and words are flashing across the screens onstage.  The action opens, not on a castle rooftop, but in the basement surveillance room, with a bored security guard flashing through security camera images of the floors of the castle.  It's through these cameras that the king's ghost is seen.  Hamlet's friend Horatio and one of the guards hop in the elevator to confront him while the other guard watches, as the action seamlessly moves from the stage to the pre-taped video.  It's an ingenious idea and flawlessly executed.  The use of images and videos appears in various parts of the play, as Hamlet scrolls through photos on his cell phone and the images are projected on screen, and later, as the queen watches the action of a party on a TV screen.  Yes, this is a modern-day Hamlet.  In addition to cell phones and TVs, characters also use laptops and iPads.  The costumes are modern, ranging from classic and refined (as in the queen's gorgeous wardrobe), to a more youthful and edgy look on Hamlet and his young friends.  The set (designed by Bain Boehlke, who also directed) is brilliant.  In addition to all of the audio-visual devices, it consists of huge columns that are moved around the stage to represent different areas of the castle.  The settings are as varied as a busy airport bar, the dark basement of the castle, and an airy breakfast room.  In between scenes, as the set is being changed, the time and setting of the scene are flashed on the screen, guiding the audience through the action.  This may sound like a lot of stuff going on that could distract from the story, but I found that it really enhanced it and drew me in.

I've seen Hugh Kennedy in a number of productions at the Guthrie and I've always liked him.  He's a very natural actor and has great charisma and stage presence.  But I've never seen him in a lead role like this (although I'm not sure there is another lead role like Hamlet).  His Hamlet is real and raw, tortured and crazy, lost and vulnerable.  You can feel his pain at the loss of his father and the changes it's brought to his life.  The words sound so natural coming out of Hugh's mouth, and Shakespearean language does not always sound natural.  He really made this play come alive for me.  I sometimes have difficulty concentrating on three plus hours of Shakespeare, but Hugh's performance, along with the inventive set design and contemporary setting, made it easy.

Bradley Greenwald (one of my favorite actors from the musical theater world) is deliciously smarmy and evil as Claudius, Hamlet's uncle and his father's murderer.  His voice is melodious even when merely speaking.  Michelle Barber is regal as Hamlet's newly widowed, newly wed mother Gertrude, who aches for her son and can't understand why he isn't as happy as she is with the new way of things.  The scene near the end of the play in which Hamlet visits Gertrude's room is particularly poignant and heartbreaking.  It's so nice to see Michelle outside of the Chanhassen (where she's a regular) and see what else she can do.  Gary Briggle (who was so wonderful in my favorite Fringe show this year, Twisted Apples) is also excellent as the King's councillor Polonius, and Erin Mae Johnson is a sufficiently crazy Ophelia.  I was happy to see Doug Scholz-Carlson from one of my favorite original musical theater pieces this year, Heaven.  He plays Ophelia's brother and Polonius' son, and has a wonderful fight/death scene at the end.

Hamlet is playing into October.  If you like your Shakespeare contemporary, real, and a little bit shook up, but still true to the original, you should check it out.  I probably don't need to warn anyone that it's not a short play; with three acts and two intermissions, it's well over the three hour mark.  I wouldn't recommend hanging out at a campfire until the wee hours of the morning a few nights before you see it (although the dollar Dunn Brothers coffee in the lobby helps).  Make sure you're well rested, fed, and watered.  You'll want to be alert for this one.