May 26, 2009
By Terri Dunbar-Curran

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HAMLET. Directed by Sanjin Muftic, with Chase Downes, Taheera April, DJ Mouton, Keer-an Blessie, Malefane Mosuhli, James MacGregor, Lynne-Leigh Barendse, Ken Bullen-Smith, Francis Chouler, Trudy van Rooy, Trent Nightingale, Nandi Horak, Lerato Motshwarakgole, Oskar Brown and Nic Davies. At the Little Theatre until Saturday.

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Shakespeare’s plays have been revived time and time again for stage and screen with directors and actors making the script their own and trying to breathe new life into words written for an audience many years ago.

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While many who were made to study Hamlet at school would usually groan at the prospect of seeing the UCT Drama Department’s latest offering, it holds more than a few surprises which make it a worthwhile trip to the theatre.

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Yawazzi Theatre Productions, director Sanjin Muftic, designer Jon Keevy and the third year drama students have produced a play which falls into both the traditional Shakespeare category and the experimental realm.
As the play opens, the stage is littered with bodies as Horatio laments the death of his best friend.

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This first hint that this won’t be just any other presentation of Hamlet sets the mood for an exploration of Shakespeare’s work that challenges the norms.

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Hamlet is a passionate youth and is thrown into fits of anguish upon discovering his father is dead and his mother married to his uncle.

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The stage is set with flights of stairs and is littered with leaves and paper, adding to the sense of confusion and Hamlet’s psychological turmoil as he battles to get to grips with the events in his life.

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The period costume and use of Shakespeare’s original script keeps the play grounded, so when Hamlet’s character branches out into five actors, it adds a totally new dimension to the well-known story.

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With five different aspects of Hamlet’s character, his inner turmoil is superbly illustrated and it’s not hard to imagine why poor Ophelia was so terrified by his disposition.
Each Hamlet embodies a different side of the young Dane, such as the lover, the griever and the avenger.

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By dividing the dialogue between the five aspects of his character, it is much easier to sympathise with the young man and delve a little deeper into what is driving him.

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Trudy van Rooy impresses with her heartbroken Ophelia and Chase Downes manages to portray the angry young Dane well before he is joined by the other, equally emotive Hamlets – Taheera April, DJ Mouton, Keeran Blessie and Malefane Mosuhli.

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The highlights of the production are most certainly the splashes of lateral thinking which make this take of the well-known tragedy really stand apart from the rest.

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Nandi Horak and Lerato Motshwarakgole as the dandies Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with their powdered wigs, feathers, fans and fishnets, look like a couple of courtesans who spend their time frolicking in a Gilbert and Sullivan play, or at the Moulin Rouge.

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Also effective was the use of sand pictures and music to bring the play within the play to life. Leigh Bishop’s costumes work brilliantly with the overall feel of the play and her designs for the various aspects of Hamlet’s character are spot on.

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Overall, the play is enjoyable, and it’s this sort of initiative and creativity which helps keep Shakespeare’s stories alive and pertinent.

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For an intriguing look into the mind of one of the Bard’s most oft-quoted characters, go and see Hamlet.

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· Tickets are R50, or R30 for students. To book, call 084 395 8381.