Bard on the Beach’s Hamlet starts the way a lot of plays end — with silence.
Darkness in an empty library. Hamlet and Ophelia walk out, an urn in Hamlet’s hand filled with his father’s ashes. They turn on a projector (yes, this production is set in the modern day — more on that later) and sit hand in hand. They watch a film we cannot see, although we can assume it’s of his father, and they cry. Ophelia exits, leaving Hamlet alone with his father’s ashes, and he speaks the words of his famous soliloquy: “To be or not be…”
It’s a very effective opening. Stark and haunting, vivid in its contrasts and so strongly emotional even in that silence.
And it’s enhanced further by what comes after. An interruption by the paparazzi, a meeting with his uncle (now the king) and his mother, then a dance party which intentionally runs a bit too long. Hamlet watches off to the side, incredulous, confused and disgusted.
I have to commend Nadeem Phillip Umar Khitab’s performance as Hamlet. In the first scene, and all others, he manages to convey so much, not just through his words — although he delivers the soliloquies with power and passion that befits them — but also through his face and body.
The rest of the cast are all quite good as well, and they all seem to be having a great time performing, even with the sense of tragedy hanging in the air. Kate Besworth plays a great Ophelia, just as vivid as Umar Khitab’s Hamlet, and beautifully conveys her madness in the final acts.
A surprise standout is Nathan Kay. I saw him recently in another Bard production this season, Twelfth Night, as the bumbling, comedic relief knight Sir Andrew Aguecheek. It’s amazing to see his range in how well he played the serious, and later tragic, Laertes.
There are some nice choices in this production, particularly the modern costume design of suits and dresses, hoodies and sweatpants. It definitely accomplishes the aim of the costume designer (according to the program) of making all these characters eminently relatable and human — people not of the past, but of now.
The soliloquies were also executed in an interesting manner. In the middle of the dance party mentioned earlier, Hamlet gets up as all the actors fall into slow-motion and the stage lights turn dark blue and purple and delivers a speech that in the original play is delivered solely to himself after everyone has left. He screams his anger into the face of his mother even though she can’t hear him and pretends to punch his hated uncle.
This effect, soliloquies turned into slow-motion asides, happens a few times throughout the show. It helps up the pacing of a notoriously long play and gives those lonely speeches something to grip onto, making them so much more dynamic.
Despite these choices, a few small snags break the atmosphere. The sound design, especially during the scene changes, sometimes sounds like something from a ‘90s action movie — this was probably supposed to evoke a thriller tone, but instead ended up feeling kind of cheesy. There were also one or two additional dances throughout the play that felt extraneous without that strong thematic significance of the first one.
In the end, Hamlet didn’t quite match the quality of other Bard plays I've seen. It didn’t have a burning moment like the dance of fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, nor did it have the unshakable, all-consuming intensity of Romeo and Juliet, but that’s alright. It’s still a great play, and I definitely recommend that you give it a try if you have the chance, even though I wish it had used more of that stark but beautiful silence it had at the beginning.
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