It’s been, well, since high school since I sat down and read a full Shakespeare text. I remember seeing ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and ‘As You Like It’ at the storied globe as a fourteen year old. Some ten years later, I was lucky enough to see the [what I’ve been told is a sold-out run here in LA] Wooster Group’s interpretation of Hamlet at the REDCAT Theater last week.

Discounting the intermission and traveling, I can’t remember the last time I’d sat still for that long. Regardless, this storied New York company staged a whopping post-something rendition of the classic tragedy. There were several screens, monitors, and cameras visible, most of them projecting imagery from the Richard Burton filmed version of Hamlet, synced up with the live performances. Actors and props would suddenly jump to different positions as the video cut to different angles. Segments of scenes would literally be fast-forwarded, the actors stepping out of character to say, ‘let’s fast forward to the drowning bit’ or something like that.

Oh, and Laertes has a couple songs, with music credited to Fischerspooner. Why not? Charlton Heston appears via Quicktime as Hamlet’s father’s ghost [from the Branaugh version]. Several of the actors played multiple roles, including one actress playing Ophelia and Gertrude.

It took me about 20 minutes to really settle into the style, but the sound design, mixing in elements from the filmed Burton version and the live dialog, was impressive. There were also a lot of not-necessarily-motivated-but-eerie-as-hell low frequencies as well as ghostly modern bleeps in the mix. It helped that the REDCAT stage is ’state of the art.’ Finally, the whole play was dedicated to fine artist Richard Prince, whose use of humor with visual arts we greatly appreciate here at Found.

I’d like to say more, but I would need to see it again [or six more times] to really have a grasp of how and why it works.

Highly recommended.