The performance of director Árpád Schilling's rendering of Shakespeare's famous play was the first one to take place in a theatre - all of the previous productions took place in high schools - but the venue was a familiar one, as the troupe has performed at MC 93 Bobigny many times before over the past several years.
Hamlet.ws is performed without a set, props or special lighting. All of the roles in the play are performed by three actors - József Gyabronka, Zsolt Nagy and Roland Rába.
Schilling explains that, from a philosophical point of view, the figure of Hamlet can be seen as a trinity of heart, mind and soul, through which the three stages of life - youth, adulthood and old age - can be examined; for this reason, just three men act in the production.
Schilling based the script on Ádám Nádasdy's translation of Hamlet, but removed some parts and added others which were inspired by the story. Among the texts Schilling inserted into the play are writings by the great Hungarian poets Attila József and János Pilinszky, as well from the American poet Allen Ginsberg.
By using such a system of associations, new associations can be created for the audience. According to Schilling, this is key, because not only evaluating the story of Hamlet is important, but evaluating the thoughts it produces at the end of the performance.
The Krétakör sought out an open-minded audience for the piece, one which was free of theatrical preconceptions and ready to experiment. For this reason the troupe decided to show the play only at secondary schools, colleges and universities at the start.
Schilling said a group of French pupils invited the troupe to perform at their school after the performance at MC 93 Bobigny. The students started a long talk with the actors and the director about the piece, just as has happened after the eight performances of the play at Hungarian schools. Never has the troupe received so much valuable feedback after a performance as that offered by these young people, Schilling said.
The Krétákör Theatre will take Hamlet.ws to a wider audience of theatre-goers in the autumn of 2008.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
