The Play's the Thing

CSF's innovative Hamlet keeps the classic vital.

Comments (0) By Juliet Wittman Thursday, Jul 31 2003

Gertrude is a murky role as written. We don't know whether she colluded with Claudius in the murder of Hamlet's father, or what she really feels about her son. When Hamlet accuses her of lechery and bad faith, she has several remorseful-sounding lines -- "Oh, Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain" -- but we're not sure if she means them. McCarthy's Gertrude doesn't. She's also completely unmoved later, when she describes Ophelia's death. (This is another of those anomalous Hamlet moments. If Gertrude sees Ophelia drowning, why doesn't she rescue the girl?) Most actresses make Gertrude sympathetic; it's to McCarthy's credit that she tried something darker and more difficult.

Her approach reminded me of Margaret Atwood's caustic little satire on the closet scene, "Gertrude Talks Back":

Tony Marble and Hollis McCarthy in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's Hamlet.

Details

Presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in conjunction with Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew and Cymbeline
Through August 23
303-492-0554, www.coloradoshakes.org

Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre, University of Colorado, Boulder

More About

"I am not wringing my hands. I'm drying my nails . . .. The rank sweat of a what? My bed is certainly not enseamed, whatever that might be! A nasty sty, indeed! Not that it's any of your business, but I change those sheets twice a week, which is more than you do, judging from that student slum pigpen in Wittenberg . . .. And let me tell you, everyone sweats at a time like that, as you'd find out very soon if you ever gave it a try . . ..

"Oh! You think what? You think Claudius murdered your Dad? Well, no wonder you've been so rude to him at the dinner table.

"If I'd known that, I could have put you straight in no time flat.

"It wasn't Claudius, darling.

"It was me."

(From Good Bones and Simple Murders.)