What I liked
All three of the actors are perfect in their roles. I say as a tremendous compliment that I had an incredibly hard time focusing on any one of them individually. I kept wanting to watch each of them solely throughout their scenes and kept having to tear my eyes away so I could watch the other characters…where I would get equally lost in them.
Katelyn Schiller’s portrayal of Hamlet is a fascinating example of claiming a role without erasing your own persona in the process. There was no doubt of the masculine nature of her role and yet the choices in staging and movement occasionally reminded me that she was, herself, not actually male. At no point did that detract from the power of her role—in fact, in many ways it enhanced the duality (or in this particular presentation, the DUPLICITY) of Hamlet’s nature. A fantastic choice.
Kelley Pierre’s portrayal of Ophelia was luminous and haunted and vulnerable in a way that is hard to categorize. While being the character with the greatest determination of agency and decision-making within the show, she was also the one who seemed most lost by the events happening around and to her. This was partially the nature of the script but was equally infused by her choices as an actor. Her ability to give energy to others in the scene is something to be seen and shows an actor who is very conscious of how to help the flow of a play.
Payden Ackerman’s portrayal was, in many ways, the hardest of the three in my opinion. The need to straddle the relationships in just the right way, not too large or too small, was crucial. He captured that balance with perfection, bringing forth a character who was just strong enough when it mattered, just weak enough that I accepted how we got to where we did. A portrayal both gentle and thoughtful.
What I didn't like
I sincerely think this show’s only problem is that it’s actually too short. Fringe being what it is, time is always relevant to the situation. But I wanted to see the relationships build a little more before the inevitable implosion, especially given the nature of how THIS story unfolded. A slightly longer exploration of the characters and their comfort/discomfort with each other would have made the final revelations more impactful.
I’d love to see a version of this that was 75 minutes.
Also, the meaning behind the repetition of moments, while I eventually went with it, was never as completely clear to me as I wanted. It’s a minor quibble, because I understood what they were meant to serve. But at the same time, I almost wanted a set-up with the first one that would make it just a tad more clear what was happening. Very, very small quibble.
My overall impression
It is a rare thing to see a cast that is this in sync with each other. Each character has moments that are specifically relevant to the overall narrative and the actors know exactly how to let the actor and character have those moments. It’s a perfectly choreographed scenario that is surprising in both its simplicity and its effectiveness.
