It’s hard not to come to a show called HAMLET: One Hour, performed by three actors, with preconceptions – or questions at least. Will it be a romp delivered at breakneck speed? Is it relevant for me to recall Sydney’s Nimrod Theatre smashing the sanctity of The Bard in 1973 with Hamlet on ice: a rock pantomime by Micheal Boddy and Ron Blair? The answer to both turns out to be no. This is a serious undertaking – but not without humour.

Aotearoa NZ has a long and noble tradition of condensing classical texts. It was standard practice for The New Zealand Players Drama Quartet, other schools tours followed suit and the annual Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ Shakespeare in Schools Festival often includes 15-minute distillations that focus on one plot line or thematic thread.

The programme note from Director Jo Marsh, who also abridged Shakespeare’s longest play, says her adaptation “has taken the essence of Hamlet and set it in a crumbling, dystopian world filled with surveillance and conspiracies.” The Production Details submitted to Theatreview say that it “explores the mental health impacts of grief, trauma and a life lived on screen. From Zoom calls to security cameras, Hamlet’s every move is watched. As we explore his thought distortions, we’re left to wonder, is it still paranoia when everyone is a threat?” Good question.

The testimonials from cast members suggest everyone is fully enrolled in this promising premise, so the question is, does the production engage the audience in those elements? Obviously I can only speak for myself although I note opening night is replete with many others who know Hamlet very well, having performed in it or directed it. We cannot help but be alert to what is “more honoured in the breach than the observance” of the full text. To some extent I envy those who come to it with less prior knowledge.

Marsh’s production design includes hanging sheets (shrouds?) with tent-like tops, and two square screens ingeniously rigged to become diamond-shaped at judicious points. High above, on a downward-pointing triangle, we spy a logo for Osric Technologies – which we may suspect is spying on us. The pre-set includes a video projection of a lone security guard (Francisco, played by Hamish Boyle) keeping watch outside a brutalist concrete building, gently setting the tone for a place under threat from something unknown.

Having taken his leave of his replacement – Bernado, played by Helen Vivienne Fletcher – Boyle returns as Horatio to observe the spectre of the recently deceased King Hamlet: also Boyle, on screen. SPLITelevision (Ryan Bedford-Evans & Troy J Malcolm) have compiled the AV images, which include various characters Zooming in to converse with others on stage, often both played by the same actor – e.g. Fletcher’s on-screen Ophelia patiently listens to her on stage Laertes mansplaining why Prince Hamlet, for all the attention he pays her, is out of her reach.

Having shrunk his well-known precepts to Laertes down to, “To thine own self be true…,” Boyle’s Polonius reiterates the ‘out of your league’ message to Ophelia. This plotline threads on through Ophelia’s upset at Hamlet’s “unbrac’d … ungarter’d” visit to her chamber, Polonius’s sudden belief that the prince really does love his daughter – relayed to Boyle’s onscreen Claudius and Fletcher’s onscreen Gertrude – and so to the plan to prove it, or not, by setting up Ophelia to meet Hamlet under secret surveillance from Claudius and Polonius …  

Meanwhile Shaun Swain plays Hamlet and no-one else. His bereaved prince refuses to celebrate his mother’s precipitous marriage to her brother-in-law, Claudius; joins Horatio to witness his father’s ghost and discover he was murdered by his brother, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius; quizzes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – played as one character (Rosenstern? Guildencrantz?) by Fletcher – as to whether they were sent to spy on him; becomes aware that his encounter with Ophelia is being observed …

I don’t recall Hamlet telling Horatio he is going to “put an antic disposition on” so that Claudius thinks he’s distracted and harmless. The travelling Players are deleted so there is no setting up of the play-within-the-play designed to “catch the conscience of the king” and no escalation of Hamlet’s emotions when his uncle’s guilt seems proved – the ‘is he really mad now or is he still feigning it?’ moment – but he does still confront his mother in her closet and kill Polonius, believing it to be Claudius spying on him.  

Given the production’s objective to explore “the mental health impacts of grief, trauma and a life lived on screen”, the absence of Ophelia’s mad scene is bewildering. (Hamlet in 80 minutes would be fine – it plays at 73 minutes as it is).

At this point I have to say that although Swain is impressively relaxed and fluent in the titular role, and marks mood changes from affable to angry, I get no sense of the emotional turmoil that compels us to question his mental state let alone empathise with it. While I’m sure he shares Marsh’s understanding of the grief-driven shock, anger and vengefulness suppressed by the dictates of his position (despite the absence of the Fortinbras threat, which is dramaturgically placed to compel tribal unity in court), it has yet to manifest engagingly in Swain’s performance.

To be fair, this is an undertaking that requires at least a week of previews in order to reach its potential. The challenge inherent in integrating the technical elements – splendidly operated by Emma Maguire – with live onstage performances, involving two actors slipping in and out of 10 roles, understandably takes precedence when moving from the rehearsal room to the theatre with only two days until it opens.

Hamish Boyle delineates his recurring roles – Horatio, King Claudius and Polonius – in undemonstrative ways that nevertheless compel us to tune into their thoughts and feelings. He also generates some welcome touches of wry humour (given the shrinking of R & G, and the absence of the Player and the Gravedigger(s).).

Helen Vivienne Fletcher draws us in with her subtle differentiation between Laertes, Ophelia and Gertrude, although I feel her Ophelia could embody more youthful spirit, albeit suppressed most of the time. What a shame she is denied the poignant scene that dramatically enriches the tragic consequences.

We do get the sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes, however – and here again I feel the conspiracy element is not explored as dramatically as it could be. This is partly due to the cuts. By not including the failed plan to have R&G dispose of Hamlet, or the highly emotional confrontation between Laertes and Hamlet at Ophelia’s grave, then just sketching in the Plan B conspiracy between Claudius and Laertes to do the deed with a ‘friendly’ sword fight, the thriller element is severely diluted.

We do hear that Laertes has anointed his sword with poison but instead of “rapier and dagger” they opt for broad swords and the fight is in shadow play. This blurs the all-important moment when Hamlet realises Laertes sword is unbated and therefore swaps the swords. Even then, Hamlet doesn’t know about the poison and thinks it’s still a sporting encounter. His running Laertes through with his sword is therefore a shock that deletes the irony of Laertes being pricked by his own poison.

As I’ve suggested above, HAMLET: One Hour will be a different experience for those less familiar with the whole play and therefore able to take it at face value. Distilling Shakespeare’s epic play down to its mental health and conspiracy themes is a valid choice, and there is every chance it will achieve its avowed objectives as the too-short season progresses.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer