Theater review: Hamlet (solo), Raoul Bhaneja

Raoul Bhaneja's Hamlet (solo) is exactly what the title says, and better than you'd probably expect: Shakespeare's Hamlet done by one actor, alone on a stage, wearing basic black clothes, with a black curtain behind him, with no props whatsoever unless you count stepping behind the curtain a few times. cattitude and I saw it last night at P.S. 122; the small theater there suited it.

Bhaneja uses his voice and body extremely well (though I will note that he often spoke quickly): he shifts from character to character within conversations effectively and without visible effort, including scenes where he is thus effectively arguing with himself, such as Hamlet and Ophelia in the scene that ends with "Get thee to a nunnery, go!" Almost all the scenes involve him switching personas in a conversation, but the shift is a bit less startling when it's Horatio talking to Hamlet about the Ghost; that argument between Hamlet and Ophelia requires him to alternate Hamlet deliberately saying cruel and dismissive things with Ophelia reacting to hearing those things from someone she loves.

On the way home, Cattitude commented that the actor playing Polonius had stolen the show. I don't think so: Polonius was excellent, but so were Hamlet, Ophelia, and Horatio.

Cattitude had wondered if going out two Wednesdays in a row was a good idea for me, but I pointed out that this was a 7:00 curtain, and there was a 9:00 show listed, so we wouldn't be out all night. (Given that Hamlet can run 3.5 hours, it was a reasonable concern.) Obviously, Hamlet in under two hours means a lot of cuts; I think the choices were good, including keeping in the earthy, disrespectful humor of the gravedigger scene.

The program included a synopsis of the play, but this performance is definitely for people who know the play at least moderately well, and possibly some of the things around it; Stoppard was there in the timing every time Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were on stage, for example. It was subtle enough that someone who doesn't know Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead might have missed it, or might have thought that particular uncertainty was either Shakespeare's or Bhaneja's. Indeed, when Cattitude and I were discussing the play and the choices Bhaneja made, it occurred to me that there don't really need to be both of those characters, especially given the size of Elizabethan acting companies, and he suggested that there might have been jokes about the inability to tell them apart four centuries ago.

That familiarity let Bhaneja deliver some lines with his back to the audience: it's easier to hear what someone is saying when the words are familiar, and the characters and plot equally so.

I haven't been down to P.S. 122 in years; we went to see this on rysmiel's strong recommendation. Thank you, rysmiel. I vaguely wish it had made sense for us to go last weekend, so I could have posted this while there were performances left in this run. This was the U.S. premiere, but with any luck Bhaneja will keep doing the show.

As bonuses, I got to meet daharyn, though only long enough for a quick hello, and when Cattitude and I went to Veselka for supper afterward, it turned out that they had blueberry pierogi. Even better, they're now offering the blueberry pierogi fried as well as boiled. I had been thinking, idly, of the more ordinary potato or meat pierogi. When we walked in, I noticed beef bourgignon on the signboard, contemplated it for a couple of seconds, then saw the blueberry pierogi, and settled down to thinking about what to have with it. Fried blueberry pierogi with sour cream and a glass of milk is definitely a "life is uncertain, eat dessert first" dinner.

Theater review: Hamlet (solo), Raoul Bhaneja

Raoul Bhaneja's Hamlet (solo) is exactly what the title says, and better than you'd probably expect: Shakespeare's Hamlet done by one actor, alone on a stage, wearing basic black clothes, with a black curtain behind him, with no props whatsoever unless you count stepping behind the curtain a few times. cattitude and I saw it last night at P.S. 122; the small theater there suited it.

Bhaneja uses his voice and body extremely well (though I will note that he often spoke quickly): he shifts from character to character within conversations effectively and without visible effort, including scenes where he is thus effectively arguing with himself, such as Hamlet and Ophelia in the scene that ends with "Get thee to a nunnery, go!" Almost all the scenes involve him switching personas in a conversation, but the shift is a bit less startling when it's Horatio talking to Hamlet about the Ghost; that argument between Hamlet and Ophelia requires him to alternate Hamlet deliberately saying cruel and dismissive things with Ophelia reacting to hearing those things from someone she loves.

On the way home, Cattitude commented that the actor playing Polonius had stolen the show. I don't think so: Polonius was excellent, but so were Hamlet, Ophelia, and Horatio.

Cattitude had wondered if going out two Wednesdays in a row was a good idea for me, but I pointed out that this was a 7:00 curtain, and there was a 9:00 show listed, so we wouldn't be out all night. (Given that Hamlet can run 3.5 hours, it was a reasonable concern.) Obviously, Hamlet in under two hours means a lot of cuts; I think the choices were good, including keeping in the earthy, disrespectful humor of the gravedigger scene.

The program included a synopsis of the play, but this performance is definitely for people who know the play at least moderately well, and possibly some of the things around it; Stoppard was there in the timing every time Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were on stage, for example. It was subtle enough that someone who doesn't know Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead might have missed it, or might have thought that particular uncertainty was either Shakespeare's or Bhaneja's. Indeed, when Cattitude and I were discussing the play and the choices Bhaneja made, it occurred to me that there don't really need to be both of those characters, especially given the size of Elizabethan acting companies, and he suggested that there might have been jokes about the inability to tell them apart four centuries ago.

That familiarity let Bhaneja deliver some lines with his back to the audience: it's easier to hear what someone is saying when the words are familiar, and the characters and plot equally so.

I haven't been down to P.S. 122 in years; we went to see this on rysmiel's strong recommendation. Thank you, rysmiel. I vaguely wish it had made sense for us to go last weekend, so I could have posted this while there were performances left in this run. This was the U.S. premiere, but with any luck Bhaneja will keep doing the show.

As bonuses, I got to meet daharyn, though only long enough for a quick hello, and when Cattitude and I went to Veselka for supper afterward, it turned out that they had blueberry pierogi. Even better, they're now offering the blueberry pierogi fried as well as boiled. I had been thinking, idly, of the more ordinary potato or meat pierogi. When we walked in, I noticed beef bourgignon on the signboard, contemplated it for a couple of seconds, then saw the blueberry pierogi, and settled down to thinking about what to have with it. Fried blueberry pierogi with sour cream and a glass of milk is definitely a "life is uncertain, eat dessert first" dinner.