William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is a sinister play about the revenge of the title character. In this year’s studio comedy, “I Hate Hamlet,” the Stuyvesant Theater Community (STC) brought some humor to the subject.
On Tuesday December 18 and Thursday, December 20, the library hosted two showings of the dramatic comedy, directed by senior Boris Jacobson and junior James Dennin. The second performance, though it overlapped with Asian Culture Night, still attracted a large audience.
“I Hate Hamlet,” written by Paul Rudnick, is set in New York City. The main character, Andrew (junior Robert Stevenson), is a TV actor who is to play Hamlet, said to be the hardest theatrical role, as part of the Shakespeare in the Park program.
Felicia (junior Rosie Friend), Andrew’s broker, rents him the apartment of John Barrymore (sophomore Wes Schierenbeck), now deceased though acclaimed as the best Hamlet of all time, to help him grow into the role. Andrew, however, decides not to go through with the production and must face Barrymore, who refuses to return to the dead unless Andrew does his part.
Meanwhile, Andrew has to deal with his girlfriend Diedre (sophomore Clio Contegenis), who refuses to have premarital sex. In the end, despite his failure to give the performance of his life as Hamlet, Andrew follows a life of promising glory in theater.
Stevenson, a veteran in the STC, had great timing and unusual body language. He performed an outrageous choreographed sequence involving robotic beeping, stiff movements and a karate kick that had the audience in stitches.
The chemistry between Stevenson and Contegenis was fabulous. The two were hilarious in their respective roles as a sexually frustrated boyfriend and a 29-year old virgin girlfriend. Though Contegenis was not an obvious cast choice—her performance was more reserved compared to the slapstick humor of Schierenbeck and Stevenson—she was a good addition to the cast. In a scene in which Diedre was acting out a part of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” she said the lines with a dramatic air as she stood on the couch, delaying her hand motions to add to the humor.
Schierenbeck, who played the charismatic ghost of Barrymore, had the audience laughing the whole time. With a voice that projected well, he was able to maintain a masterful stage presence throughout. He was outrageous and over-the-top as he silently made humorous attempts to seduce characters on set.
The chemistry between Schierenbeck’s Barrymore and sophomore Singha Hon’s Lillian, who had had a brief fling with Barrymore and is now Andrew’s agent, had its own distinct humor and awkward moments. The waltz the two characters danced was as impressive as the sword fight between Schierenbeck and Stevenson. Hon played a minor character but delivered her sarcastic lines well.
Senior Max Stein, who played the role of Gary, a friend of Andrew and a money-driven writer-producer-director from Los Angeles, gave an amazing performance as well. Stein’s poise and gestures were effective. He maintained a relaxed slouch, leaned in on characters on certain lines to give emphasis and had good eye contact.
Friend’s shining moment came during the séance scene: the audience laughed hysterically as she shook in a trance. But since Friend had most of her lines at the beginning of the show, she was underappreciated by Thursday’s audience, which was reluctant to laugh early in the performance.
The costumes were surprisingly good considering the limited budget of a studio production. Everyone was wearing clothing suitable to his or her character, ranging from Stevenson and Schierenbeck’s Shakespearean tights (Schierenbeck’s tights accentuated his padded crotch, a source of laughter throughout the show) to the modern shirt-and-tie Stein wore.
Vocal projection was excellent, especially Schierenbeck’s. The lighting was also good for a studio production. Sound effects, which came from an iPod offstage, were sporadic but this was easily overlooked.
“I’m really impressed with how well they made use of the space,” senior Isaac Miller said. “The sword fight was excellent given they are using Power Ranger swords.”
“The handicap is that we do everything ourselves, including setting up the stage, which usually takes an hour,” Jacobson said. “I personally like studio productions more. […] Some would say the handicap is the small budget but in reality, we use what we can and bring in whatever we can. I think small sets can work just as well as big sets.”
“The hardest thing was getting people to be on task because we just mainly sat around telling the same four jokes over and over again and laughing at each other,” Contegenis said.
Said Schierenbeck, “This is the most fun I’ve ever had with a play and the most proud I’ve been of anything I’ve done.”
Though Andrew may not have given his best performance as Hamlet, the “I Hate Hamlet” cast had a lot of fun—and judging by the laughs actors received, the audience did too.
