My overall impression
Jacob Sidney stars in the lead role and directs this vibrant, imaginative and compact staging of the classic. The background animation had me wondering what a fully-animated version of the cast would be like; which is not to take anything away from the strong nature of performances themselves, (standouts include Matt Henerson’s Polonius and gravedigger (some actors had dual roles) and Jonathan Goldstein as Claudius and Kathy Bell Denton as Gertrude) and a very finely choreographed fight scene at the end—but I’d love to see the manga-style version of Hamlet’s flaming red and white striped hair.
Hopefully this version will continue to be developed and staged again in a theater with a more functional and robust air conditioning system. On closing night it felt rather like church, with the audience members constantly fanning themselves with their programs—by the end of the evening we were all covered in a fine layer of sweat, which, now that I think about it, just added a bit of apocalyptic realism to the entire experience.
