Ultra marine

>> Prize-winning Hamlet a must-see

by AMY BARRATT

These days, if you want to make a good Hamlet, you have to break a few acts.

At least that seems to be the thinking behind Alexandre Marine's wonderful, pared-down version currently playing at La Licorne. Originally staged almost in secret last year at the Geordie space, the production was recently voted best production of 1998-99 by the Association des critiques de theatre de Montreal, just in time for the remount.

This Hamlet takes a mere seven actors--as opposed to the hordes of soldiers, sailors, courtiers and ambassadors called for by Shakespeare--and runs not much over 90 minutes instead of the three to four hours of a textually faithful version. I'm not saying that shorter is necessarily better, but in this case, it has paid to be ruthless with the Immortal Bard.

Marine's stylized, fluid and, yes, playful production cuts straight to the nasty little family drama (with political and religious overtones) at the heart of the play. Alejandro Moran's Polonius is a meddler in the affairs of others who fails to see what's going on in his own house; Maria Monakhova's Gertrude (La Reine) is a hopeless airhead; Ophelia, as played by Karyne Lemieux, goes from a sassy girl who just wants to have fun to a forlorn pawn in a game she lacks the sophistication to understand. Vitali Makarov's Hamlet is a classic passive-aggressive, with no tools but sulking and sarcasm to try to get what he wants.

The French translation of the text for this production is by Francois Victor Hugo, but the adaptation--that is, the cutting and pasting of text--as well as the extraordinarily inventive staging, are all Marine's. He has his actors using their bodies to convey character and relationship with such precision that (ironically since this is Shakespeare) the words are almost extraneous. Someone who was reasonably familiar with the story of Hamlet but didn't understand a word of French could still enjoy this production. Indeed, if I have any complaint with this production it's that some of the actors mumble; but that hardly matters since at least 50 per cent of what's going on is being conveyed visually.

And yet it's so simple! The set consists of four tables on casters that can be moved around or covered with cloths to create settings ranging from a banquet hall to a graveyard.

It's not often that you see a show as well planned and executed as this one. Each moment falls into place and there isn't a false note anywhere--all the more impressive since this is an adaptation of a 400-year-old work. Every once in a while you see a reinterpretation of a classic that makes you think: yes, that's what the old man had in mind when he wrote it. Shakespeare's version is about theatre and the people who make it. This production just emphasizes that aspect by bringing the jester Yorick to life.

It's not that Marine has had the last word on Hamlet; it just feels that way.

Hamlet continues to Nov. 27 at La Licorne, Tues-Sat at 8pm, except Wed at 7pm; 523-2246