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Bard boogie
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Denmark and Elsinore is a hip hop Hamlet
by AMY BARRATT
 “You
know what would go great with music? Shakespeare.”
Those words, spoken by Debora Grant to her musician bother Marlon, were
the seeds of a multimedia project called Denmark and Elsinore opening
this Sunday, Feb. 17, at Le Swimming.
“We went into the studio and started playing around with texts
and music,” says Grant. “And I found myself delving so much
into Hamlet that I just said, ‘I’m going to do it.’”
To ensure this was truly a family project, Grant enlisted another brother,
Clement, to do the visual design. He used his computer to create a constantly
shifting “video painting” that is meant to create mood throughout
the piece. It’s composed of images from pop culture and screen
versions of Hamlet.
Now, this city has seen a fair number of Hamlet’s in the past few
years, in English, French, and even Lithuanian. But a Hamlet with an
Afro-Canadian cast and a hip-hop-salsa-house soundtrack? That’s
something new.
The concept in Denmark and Elsinore is that everyone present—cast
and audience alike—is attending a private party celebrating a shift
in power. Grant, who directs the piece, has made extensive cuts to the
text which, unadulterated, can run four hours. A Shakespeare purist
might call this production “highlights from Hamlet,” but very
few companies these days perform the play intact. Grant has introduced
a narrator to bridge the gaps between major scenes, and most of your
favourite quotable quotes will still be there. Then of course there
are the dance sequences. We’re in a club, after all.
Hamlet is played by Concordia Performance graduate Quincy Armourer.
Aware that the opportunity to play possibly the most coveted role in
English drama might never come along again, he is throwing himself heart
and soul into the part. “I’ve done Shakespeare with Repercussion
Theatre and Halifax’s Shakespeare by the Sea, among others, and
I’ve had good roles, but… Hamlet. It’s the one that most
actors want to do. Until you get cast in it, you don’t fully realize
how challenging it is. I can’t describe what it means to play this
role except to say, it’s Hamlet!”
Grant went looking for an all-black cast simply because she saw that
there wasn’t a lot of work for them in theatre, especially Shakespeare.
She found her predominantly young, predominantly female performers (also
refreshing qualities in a Shakespeare production) through open auditions
and contacts at Black Theatre Workshop and the Montreal School of Performing
Arts.
Grant has put the project together on a budget of “whatever I have
in my pocket this week.” She says that other theatre companies
and members of the community, even if they couldn’t contribute
money to the project, have been incredibly generous with their equipment
and their expertise. Grant managed to swing sponsorships for the show
from Fubu and Guess, allowing her to outfit the actors in Saturday night
style. The actors will occupy three separate playing areas with the
audience seated at tables just inches away.
Denmark and Elsinore is produced by Beyond the Cubicle, the company
that Grant founded along with her partner, Mariangela Vincenzi. Between
the two of them, she jokes, they have enough ideas to keep them “booked
through 2010.” Once this show is the huge success they hope it
will be, they plan on “trying our hand at film.” :
Denmark and
Elsinore plays Feb. 17, 18,
24 & 25 at Le Swimming
(3643 St-Laurent), 282-7665
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