Shakespeare & Company will perform "Hamlet"
Lenox — Hamlet is back! Before it hits the road for a national tour, the highly anticipated remount of the acclaimed 2006 production at Shakespeare & Company will perform in Founders’ Theatre with two full dress rehearsals open to the public on September 13 at 8pm and September 14 at 2pm. Media are welcome to attend. Please RSVPto aspenlieder@shakespeare.org.Founders’ is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. All seats are $25, or $15 for students. Discounts such as Berkshire Resident, Senior and Educator are not available for these two special presentations. For tickets, please call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit the website at www.shakespeare.org. To plan a group visit, contact Group Sales Manager Victoria Vining at (413) 637-1199 ext. 132.
As there are no tour dates scheduled in Berkshire County, director Eleanor Holdridge, the cast, and Shakespeare & Company felt strongly about giving the local community the chance to see this production at an exciting time in its progress, before it embarks on a two-month tour. These special two performances come immediately after the opening night of the tour in Rutland, Vermont, and before the production truly hits the road for its next performance, in Florida. The actors will perform in full costume for these open rehearsals, but there will be varying levels of other theatrical elements, such as lighting, sets and sound.
This is a special opportunity for those who caught the celebrated 2006 run as well as those who missed it.
“This community was so much a part of the original development of the piece, so we really want to be sure they have this rare chance to see how the work has developed and to give their energy to it before it goes on the road,” Holdridge says. “We’re not just taking the work of the actors on the road, we’re taking the life of the Berkshire community and putting that on the road too.”
The original run of Hamlet was met with roaring critical enthusiasm and great success at the box office. Anchored by a provocatively cast trio of family members and Company mainstays—Jason Asprey as Hamlet; his mother and the Company’s Founder and Artistic Director Tina Packer as Hamlet’s mother Queen Gertrude; and her husband (and Asprey’s stepfather), fellow Company Founder and Director of Training Dennis Krausnick, as Polonius—the reuniting cast also features Nigel Gore (Claudius), Kevin O’Donnell (Laertes), and Elizabeth Raetz (Ophelia). The original cast is joined by long-time Company actor Johnny Lee Davenport (King Hamlet, Gravedigger, Player King) and newcomers Jacob Knoll (Guildenstern), Alex Sovronsky (Rosencrantz) and Jake Waid (Horatio).
“This is a way that we can reconnect this work with the community which has been so supportive,” Holdridge says. “We’re really excited to get the feedback from the audience, especially those people who saw the production in 2006, to see how the production has changed and deepened. Over the past two years the actors have developed an even deeper understanding of the work, even as the new actors bring their own fresh insight and energy to the project.”
