Performers - Part 52

Hamlet

In 2017, Torn Out Theater in New York City put on an all-male, nude production of Shakespeare's Hamlet in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and then repeated it in Central Park in Manhattan.

The cast being all-male was actually a throwback to Shakespeare's day, when all actors were male.  Female parts were played by men in drag.

Although not all the actors in this production were nude, there was a lot of nudity going on.

I'll summarize the plot along with some photos from the production.  Hamlet is prince of Denmark.  Hamlet's father, the king, had died, but his mother, Queen Gertrude, got remarried to Claudius, who took the throne that should have been Hamlet's and became king.

All this happens before the play starts. The play starts with the ghost of Hamlet's father (above, at left) appearing to Hamlet's friend Horatio (above, right).  That night, the ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him that he was murdered by Claudius.

King Claudius tells two student friends of Hamlet named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to keep an eye on Hamlet, since he has been acting strangely (since he saw the ghost).  Above, Hamlet, at center, played by Jake Austin Robertson, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Hamlet figures out that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are spying on him for Claudius, but he dissembles, and in a famous line, he says "What a piece of work is a man!" (above).  Or, you might say, "What a piece!"

Meanwhile, Ophelia, whom Hamlet has been sending love letters to, is told to return them to Hamlet.  When she does, Hamlet accuses her of being immodest and says "Get thee to a nunnery!"  In this production, Ophelia, played by Marcus Stewart, above, is certainly immodest, but it seems unlikely to me that a nunnery would accept a naked nun with a penis.

A group of players visits the castle and puts on a play-within-a-play in which the player king is killed, a reference to the death of Hamlet's father.  Above, Hamlet with the player king.

Meanwhile, Ophelia dies, apparently by suicide.  Two gravediggers dig her grave as Hamlet arrives with Horatio.  I think the scene above is Hamlet at left with the two gravediggers and Horatio.  The audience certainly got to see a lot of naked guys.

The gravediggers dig up the skull of Yorick, who was a jester when Hamlet was a child.  Hamlet holds it (above) and says "Alas, poor Yorick!"

In the last act, King Claudius has told Laertes, son of his advisor Polonius, to kill Hamlet.  Hamlet and Laertes fight (above).  Laertes wounds Hamlet with his poisoned blade, but then Hamlet manages to wound Laertes with the same poisoned blade.  Meanwhile, Claudius had also prepared a poisoned drink for Hamlet, but Queen Gertrude drinks it instead, and she dies.

Laertes reveals Claudius' plot before he dies (above).  Hamlet kills Claudius, and then Hamlet dies.

So, basically, at the end everybody dies.  And people say that video games are too violent!  But this is culture, so it's OK. 😏