Many productions of Shakespeare's most iconic play forgo the traditional setting and conceptualize it into other scenarios and locales. Shanghai's Urban Aphrodite has given their production a modern twist, with the Kingdom of Elsinore transformed into a motorcycle club and the kingdom鈥檚 subjects as badass bikers with no regard for the law. The minimal set, costumes, music, and other mise-en-sc猫ne help to support the concept. However, one thing that could have been explored more was the intention of the play and of those on stage.
Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I am fully in support of older plays using modern subcultures in their adaptations to help further the experience (I once saw a production of Julius Caesar in the style of '90s rap feuds that was surprisingly rad). But before indulging in too many concepts and ideas, it鈥檚 important to ask what the play is trying to achieve on its own, what message it conveys, and later how a concept can help further this point. This production of Hamlet seems to have fallen short of asking these questions and inserts too many concepts, which ultimately leaves the play to suffer in the end.
This is apparent mostly in the overall pacing of the production. The actors do not seem that focused on the scenes at hand, but rather move from scene to scene so quickly that it is difficult to appreciate the language or understand the brevity of what is taking place. This is not to say that the acting in this production was bad by any means, but there was no honest reaction by any of the characters to the circumstances given or to what the other people were saying on stage. For the most part, it felt like lines were delivered just to make it to the next cue.
Having said that, particular praise should be given to a few individuals, but namely to actor Deji Odunlami who is tasked with playing the title role. When cast as such a legendary character, it is easy to fall into clich茅 tropes and tactics, leaving one鈥檚 rendition somewhat repetitive and forced. Odulami shows great balance on stage, though, going in between Hamlet鈥檚 desire to explore his own maturity as well as being a crafty tactician in achieving his goals. People never discuss Hamlet as a master of manipulation, but Odulami鈥檚 performance gives the audience a Machiavellian view of compassion.
Another clever idea in this production worth noting takes place in the interactions between Ophelia, Laertes, and Polonius. All of these characters were performed by Chinese actors and in moments of family bonding, strife, or agony, their language switches from English to Mandarin. It was in these brief moments where we didn鈥檛 see actors just delivering lines, but actually living within the scene and reacting to one another organically. The production could have used more instances like this, which leave the concept at the door for a moment and focus on what鈥檚 most important -- the scene.
Urban Aphrodite鈥檚 production, although a bit overly conceptual for my taste, does have its moments of honesty and passion which cannot be taken for granted. If anything, credit must be given for making such bold decisions on a classic play and holding true to the concept until the very end, exemplifying Polonius鈥� famous adage "To thine own self be true".
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Hamlet is on at from October 21-24. Tickets are available by contacting tickets@urbanaphrodite.nl. More details in .
About the Author: August Cohlmia grew up directing theater and now works for Split-Works / Scorched as a booking agent for Asia. He also draws our weekly comics in the SmSh newsletter.
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