Nevis Welcomes Shakespeare ’s 'Hamlet' World Tour Players‘

In an effort to appropriately celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, these world tour players, inspired by the theatre’s Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole, had embarked on April 23rd 2014 ,  on a two-year tour aimed at performing HAMLET in every country of the world.

All the world became a stage in this ‘Globe to Globe Hamlet Tour’...and Nevis was their 42nd stage out of the 205 scheduled.  The tour will end on April 23rd 2016 which marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

 

Hence as Nevisians and Kittitians swarmed into the overflowing 400 seat-capacity hall of the Nevis Performing Arts Centre on September 4, 2014, one felt that one was participating in something larger than life...something that spanned centuries of time and something global!

Hamlet, often described as one of the best and most popular of Shakespeare’s plays, has enjoyed a familiarity even among those who have never read nor seen the play. 

 

Quotes from the Play have nourished our minds and have merged with our folk wisdom.... “To thine own self be true”... “Neither a borrower nor a lender be...” “One woe doth tread upon another...”, “To be or not to be...”  –  these are some of the more familiar. 

 

Other quotes have survived with some alterations e.g. “There is a method in his madness” and “Speaking without thinking will never get you to heaven”.  And just this year at his birthday celebration, the first Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis gave prominence to a Hamlet quote – “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends” – which he avowed could be applied to describe the story of his own life.

So large was the attendance at the Nevis performance that persons were allowed to sit on the steps between the aisles while others regretfully came as early as 7.30 pm, only to find closed doors and could not gain admission.

 

When patrons entered the auditorium, they found the set already in place. True to the early rendition of Shakespearian plays in Elizabethan times, it was simple and flexible with no curtains to pull. Consisting mainly of trunks, which no doubt, doubled as their travelling gear, the set was moved around with ritual and style while wooden planks were repositioned to signal the changing of scenes.  The trunks were even used in one instance to simulate Ophelia’s grave around which a scene was portrayed.

 

Separation of the Acts was pleasantly rendered by musical overtures. The cast members played various instruments - the accordion, the guitar, the violin, the drum etc......in a light classical mood, rhythmic lilting music... as they walked about and around the stage.

 

A screen/curtain was only introduced on the set when there was the necessity to stage a play within the play as Hamlet sought to uncover his uncle’s guilt.

 

The story of the play recounts the sudden and unexpected events in the life of Hamlet – his father’s death, the hasty marriage of his uncle to his mother, the appearance of the ghost of his father, the tragic deaths of Ophelia, whom he loves/loved, and her family - and his uncle’s attempts to get rid of him. 

 

The events unleash the deepest and most grievous emotions in all those involved – betrayal, grief, filial disappointment, depression, anger, revenge, indecision, and madness or mental challenges...? – all of which give rise to political intrigue, deception, abuse and many unnecessary deaths.

 

The complicated array of events and emotions were skilfully and artistically displayed by all the actors who at times seemed to revel in their craft. The audience remained engrossed throughout, absorbed, and straining to catch each ponderous saying that had been immortalised over the past three centuries.

 

“To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them...”

-Hamlet

 

In the end, though it was great to see the play, one could not help concluding that it was still important to study Shakespeare’s plays from a book or one would miss out on so much of the philosophical reflections and wise sayings that are passed on in a play at the talking speed of words!

Shakespeare’s works will ever remain relevant globally (...two years ago Shakespeare was celebrated in 37 languages) because he wrote studiously of the human condition and how men and women respond to testing times in their lives. Depression, madness and suicide are just as prevalent today as it was then.

 

Hamlet is described by many literary analysts as a procrastinator... a confused and indecisive man by some, and a studious man who carefully weighs the pros and cons before acting by others. Today on CNN (Sunday 7 Sept,2014) President Obama was described in strikingly similar ways by those on opposite sides on the political divide.

 

We may all be Hamlets in a world we presently find as “rotten as the state of Denmark”. Of the leader of ISIS or Syria or Russia, we, too, like Uncle Claudius may say, “He’s loved of the distracted multitude.”

 

Premier of Nevis, Hon. Vance Amory spoke at the end, and on behalf of Nevis thanked the Globe Hamlet Players for including Nevis in their itinerary and for their stellar performance. He thanked the audience as well for their overwhelming support and on behalf of Amba Trott, local author, he presented a copy of his book of short stories –‘Nonsense in-Nevis’ - to the Cast.

 

Daniel, Brantley & Associates must accept the gratitude of a very appreciative public for sponsoring this extremely worthwhile production and for giving us the opportunity to attend at the, very very generous admission fee of $EC 25.00.  You were an extremely worthwhile player on this world stage, Sirs/Mesdames.  Kudos!