Jen Katz ’19
This month, The Words brings you a recap of the English Department’s trip to see Park Square Theatre’s Hamlet on November 5th. The English Honor Society (EHS) sponsored the trip, which was open to all English majors. On a Sunday afternoon students piled onto a school bus to downtown St. Paul to see Park Square’s interpretation of the classic Shakespearean tale of a son seeking revenge for his murdered father. Professor Andrea Kaston Tange had taken her Drama: Theater and Politics course to see a separate performance, and Professor Penelope Geng brought her Shakespeare course to take in the production.
Hamlet has been performed countless times since it was first produced in 1609—so how did Park Square make their interpretation new? For starters, the program lists the setting as, “Denmark, a state of mind.” This modernized setting was reflected in bold set design: a massive slanted cube was the set’s focal point, glowing in fluorescent whites and shocking reds during the play’s climactic scenes.
Park Square’s Hamlet made several other notable changes, including: the long-winded advisor and meddling father Polonius became Polonia (Tinne Rosenmeier), and Hamlet’s confidante Horatio (Kathryn Fumie) was also gender-swapped.
Despite all of the changes, the play still maintained the electric language and meditations on the complexity of life that make the play a classic. In an energetic portrayal of the lead role, Kory LaQuess Pullam delivered the “to be or not to be” soliloquy with rousing intensity, and later pondered his own mortality as he addressed poor Yorick’s skull. The “to be or not to be” speech, however, was moved from its original location in the play to the middle of the “mousetrap scene,” or the play within a play that Hamlet uses to confirm his uncle’s guilt. Action slowed to a stop around Hamlet as he delivered the soliloquy amid the frozen bodies of the players and spectators.
A handful of theatergoers joined the EHS officers to discuss the play over lunch. Students, professors, and English department staff shared their opinions: was there something rotten in the production, or was there method in its madness?
Some questioned the purpose of gender-swapping Polonia, while others felt that making the character a woman added a maternal warmth to her relationship with her children. Professor Andrea Kaston Tange couldn’t make sense of the play’s time period, which was confused by the seeming “hundred years of fashion” in the costuming. Overall, the group agreed that the play’s strong acting and bold set design made it a success.
Professor Geng was eager to hear students’ perspective at the talk-back. She was “really impressed” with Park Square’s production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song this past spring and was excited to return with her class to see Hamlet. After a week spent studying the text, seeing it in performance lent a new dimension to the students’ understanding of the play.
“I feel like when we are reading Shakespeare, we’re getting maybe 30% of whatever it is we’re watching,” Professor Geng told The Words. “It’s really important to see how the text is working, how dialogue is working when it’s performed.”
On the whole, the class appreciated the opportunity to delve more deeply into the play; according to Professor Geng, “most of my students enjoyed it.” Following the play, the class discussed the differences between the original text and the performance and the nuance that the actors brought to their characters. The value of seeing the play as a class does not end there, says Professor Geng.
“Taking students to a performance is a community-building exercise,” Professor Geng said. “You’ve had all these weeks to enjoy each other as debaters and classmates, and then now you get to enjoy each others’ company in the very different context of audience members.”
Interested in future English Honor Society events? Contact EHS officers Libby Eggert, Lauren Forrow, and Zeena Fuleihan for more information!