Hamlet
Shakespeare’s dark tale of power and lust, murder and vengeance is regarded by many as the most influential work ever written for the stage.
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
“Pay What You Can” Night: Oct. 27 | Curtain 7 p.m.
Preview Performances: Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 | Curtain 7 p.m.
Pre-Show Director Talk 6:15 p.m.- 6:45 p.m. in the Theatre
Run: Oct. 29 – Nov. 14
Times: Wednesday Curtain | 7 p.m.
NEW THIS SEASON Thursday Curtain | 7 p.m.
Friday, Saturday Curtain | 8 p.m.
Sunday Curtains | 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Ticket Info: NEW THIS SEASON Advance Tickets: $10 off A Seating, $5 off B Seating. Advance Tickets are on sale now until Opening Day and cannot be combined with any other discount. Regular tickets start at $25 - $40.
Call The Rep Box Office at (501) 378-0405 or visit www.therep.org for complete ticketing details.
(Little Rock, Arkansas) - An unrequited ghost, a conflicted prince, a kingdom in chaos: something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Shakespeare’s dark tale of power and lust, murder and vengeance is regarded by many as the most influential work ever written for the stage.
Rep Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp directs his version of Hamlet in October as the second installment of Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s 35th season. It’s the fourth time Hupp has been involved with the production.
“The subtlety, the nuance, the contradiction, the complexity of the character is unprecedented. I don’t know that there’s another character that’s been created in literature—any literature—that is as complex and rich and speaks to people of every era of every walk of life the way the character of Hamlet does,” Hupp says.
“This sort of revenge tragedy is one of the singular stories ever told in Western literature. There’s always another Hamlet to explore, there’s always something to think about or contradict or agree with,” Hupp continues. “Every word that you read, you can find something in your own culture, in your own era that makes it timeless.”
Hupp says he wants the play to be entertaining, fast-paced, challenging and interesting, but says it’s not a director’s job to wrap it all up in a bow.
“I like it to be a little more rough around the edges, a little more ambiguous, and let people draw their own conclusions. That’s what makes theatre fun: you can come to your own conclusions,” Hupp says. “You can hear the story and depending on your own perspective and your own experiences, you’re going to take away something different. A good play will do that… speak to different people differently.”
Avery Clark, who attended high school in Fort Smith and college in Fayetteville at the University of Arkansas before moving to New York to work as a professional actor, is joining The Rep cast as what he calls the “cerebral, melancholy, witty, vengeful and charming” Hamlet.
“The character and the story of Hamlet is so intricately woven into the very fabric of our culture, you really owe it to yourself to see it,” Clark says. “It is much more than a simple revenge story that ends with a stage floor littered with bodies. But rather, it is the story of family and friends, of loss and growing up, of love, of grief and sacrifice, of faith versus fate, of forgiveness, and ultimately acceptance.”
Clark has portrayed Hamlet before, but says it wasn’t just this particular role that drew him to the production. He also jumped at the chance to work at Arkansas Repertory Theatre. “I believe this is the third time that I've auditioned for Bob, it just so happens that Hamlet was the first audition I booked,” Clark says. “I am incredibly excited to be working at Arkansas Rep, not only because it is the theater I grew up watching professional theater, but also because I have quite a few friends that have worked at the Rep that have spoken very highly of the production, the experience, and working for Bob as well as the rest of the team.”
The Hamlet cast includes 16 actors, with rehearsals beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 5. The production will include an original score by Composer Ellen Mendal, who has written music for over fifty plays at theaters across New York City. She created music for Rep productions of Rough Crossing, Proof, The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Original set design and construction will be created and managed by Set Designer and Technical Director Mike Nichols, with props design by Properties Designer Lynda J. Kwallek, while costume design by Margaret McKowen and costume creation by The Rep costume shop is currently ongoing. The production will open on Oct. 29, with two public previews including preshow discussions with Hamlet Director and Rep Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp scheduled for Oct. 27 and Oct. 28.
Clark also has some advice for someone who is seeing Shakespeare on the stage for the first time.
“First and foremost, to those who think that Hamlet is a four-hour dirge about someone who is depressed and suicidal, you're quite wrong,” he says. “Bob has a great cutting of the script that keeps the play moving quickly. Plus, Hamlet is the embodiment of the inconsistencies of human nature and to not touch upon as many emotions as possible is to not portray the character to his full potential.”
“Yes, Hamlet struggles with depression and has thoughts of suicide, but he's also incredibly flip and funny,” Clark says. “Hamlet has such an intimate relationship with the audience, he actually speaks to the audience more than anyone else in the play.”
Clark says the show is also a revenge tragedy, which is sometimes overlooked as well. “It’s the tale of a conflicted young man, who would not only have been a great man but a great king, not obsessed with death, but full of love and life who was untimely lost due to one man’s selfish act,” Clark says. “And as it is in our own lives, it is this loss of such great potential that truly makes for the greatest of tragedies.”
“Granted, most people know how it ends,” Clark admits with a smile. “But it’s a pretty fun ride along the way.”
THE DIRECTOR
Robert Hupp (Director) is in his twelfth season as producing artistic director of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Robert’s directing credits for The Rep include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Les Miserables, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, The Full Monty, Moonlight and Magnolias, Of Mice and Men, Steel Magnolias, Much Ado About Nothing, Children of Eden, Romeo & Juliet, God’s Man in Texas, The Spitfire Grill, Fully Committed, Proof, The Tempest, You Can’t Take It With You and The Grapes of Wrath. He also recently directed Les Miserables for Arizona’s Phoenix Theatre Company (AriZoni Awards include best musical production, best director) and the American premieres of Glyn Maxwell’s The Lifeblood and Wolfpit for the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble in New York City. His other recent directing credits include God’s Man in Texas (Tennie Award, Best Director) and Fully Committed for the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and My Fair Lady, The Music Man and L’Histoire du Soldat for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Prior to assuming his position at The Rep, Robert spent nine seasons as artistic director of Jean Cocteau Repertory theatre in New York City. Robert directed several works for the Obie Award-winning Cocteau Rep, including premieres of the Bentley/Milhaud version of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy and Eduardo de Filippo’s Napoli Millionaria. He has served on funding panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Theatre Communications Group, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to his duties at The Rep, Robert serves on the Board of Directors of the Theatre Communications Group and The City of Little Rock’s Arts and Culture Commission.
Featured CAST
Avery Clark (Hamlet) Avery is thrilled to be making his debut at Arkansas Rep, the theater where he grew up watching professional theater. A Fort Smith native, Avery’s selected New York credits include Arcadia and the original cast of Coronado (Invisible City), The Pillowman (APAC), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (MCT), and The Scarecrow (Metropolitan Playhouse). Regional credits include Romeo & Juliet, Cymbeline, The Count of Monte Cristo (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Hamlet and All’s Well that Ends Well (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre), Rabbit Hole and 39 Steps (Theatresquared), Journey’s End (Alley Theatre), The Heidi Chronicles (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), Three Days of Rain (Oldcastle Theatre Company), and The Shape of Things (Premiere Stages). Television credits include Guiding Light (CBS). www.averyclark.com.
Nikki Coble (Ophelia) Regional: The Importance of Being Earnest (Portland Center Stage), Private Lives (Seattle Rep), The Tempest (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival), Amadeus (New Harmony Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Delaware Theatre Company), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Virginia Stage Company, Syracuse Stage), Romeo & Juliet, and Our Town (Foothills Theatre). London: Hamlet (RADA Studio), The Winter’s Tale (GBS Theatre). Film: Mona Lisa Smile, Stags. Nikki produced her solo performance 5x7, Life in the Frame at the Trilogy Theatre, NYC. Training: B.F.A., Syracuse University, Acting Shakespeare Certificate, RADA, London.
Colin McPhillamy (Ghost, Claudius) is delighted to return to The Rep where he was last seen as Dr. Watson. US Theatre work includes seasons at: The Guthrie, The Alley, The Mark Taper Forum, The Wilma, Westport Country Playhouse, Florida Stage, and The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. He appeared on Broadway in Waiting in the Wings, and off Broadway in House and Garden. In the UK, he worked at The Royal National Theatre, and in the West End of London. He has taught and directed in London, San Diego, and Beijing. He writes for BBC Radio. Visit Colin online at www.mcphillamy.com
Barbara McCulloh (Gertrude) Broadway: Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby; Anna in The King and I, opposite Lou Diamond Philips. Lincoln Center, The House in Town. Television/Film: In the Foxhole, Hallmark Movies; A&E’s Peter Pan; Courage the Cowardly Dog; Law and Order, SVU ; Another World. Tours: Brighton Beach Memoirs; South Pacific. Off Broadway: MTC’s 1-2-3-4-5; Jewish Rep’s Kuni –Leml; York Theatre’s On the 20th Century. Regional favorites: Tartuffe; Hay Fever; Skin of Our Teeth; Taming of the Shrew; As Bees in Honey Drown; Blithe Spirit. Phi Beta Kappa, and the voice of over 75 audio books. Please visit www.barbaramcculloh.com.
ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL TEAM
The Rep’s artistic and technical team for Hamlet includes Robert Hupp (Director), Ellen Mendel, (Composer), D.C. Wright (Fight Choreographer) Rafael Colon Castanera (Production Manager), Margaret McKowen (Costume Designer), Lynda J. Kwallek (Properties Designer), Mike Nichols (Set Designer), Jason Pruzin (Sound Designer) and Matt Webb (Lighting Designer).
Performances & Special Events
CLINTON SCHOOL PANEL
Monday, Oct. 11 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
The Clinton School of Public Service will host a free panel discussion on “Hamlet From Page to Stage: Interpreting a Classic for a Modern Audience” on Monday, Oct. 11 at the Clinton School of Public Service, Sturgis Hall.
Producing Artistic Director Robert Hupp, Avery Clark and members of the creative team from Arkansas Repertory Theater’s upcoming production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” will discuss how to turn classic literature into a vibrant, accessible production for today’s audience. Panelists will take you behind the scenes as they address the play’s themes, design elements and how actors prepare to tackle some of the most challenging roles ever written for the stage.
Monday, October 11, 2010 | 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. *
Lunch & Free Lecture (Bring your own lunch. Drinks provided.)
Clinton School of Public Service, Sturgis Hall
*Reserve seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or calling (501) 683-5239.
PREVIEW PERFORMANCES
Wednesday, Oct. 27 | 7 p.m.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette presents The Rep’s “Pay What You Can Night” on Wednesday, Oct. 27. Patrons can pay any amount they wish for their ticket. Tickets must be purchased in person at the Box Office at 601 Main Street the day of the performance. The Box Office will be open from 9 a.m. until curtain. Tickets are limited to (2) two per person. Offer is based on seating availability. No SRO tickets will be issued.
Wednesday, Oct. 27 | 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 28 | 7 p.m.
Hamlet previews are Wednesday and Thursday nights, and include a pre-show discussion at 6:15 p.m. in the Theatre with Hamlet Director and Rep Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp.
OPENING NIGHT
Friday, Oct. 29 | 8 p.m.
Opening Night for Hamlet will include a performance by the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra Quartet in the lobby at 7:15 p.m., with additional performances throughout the run of Hamlet.
Opening Night will also include a post-show reception with the Hamlet cast immediately following the show. Complementary champagne and light hors d'oeuvres will be provided.
PERFORMANCE RUN
Hamlet will run for three weeks, with Preview Performances on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28, Opening Night performance on Oct. 29, and performances through November 14, Wednesday through Sunday.
Wednesday, Nov. 3
Performance Interpreted for the Hearing Impaired
Tickets
NEW! Advance Tickets are on sale now and include a discount of $10 off A Seating and $5 off B Seating. Advance Ticket discounts cannot be combined with any other discount. Advance Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at (501) 378-0405 or by buying online at https://tickets.therep.org. Full price tickets go on sale on Oct. 29 and start at $25 - $40.
“Pay What You Can” Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27 and must be purchased in person at 601 Main Street.
Group Tickets are on sale now and available for groups of 10 or more. Group tickets can be purchased by contacting Jeff Roper, Group Sales Manager, at (501) 378-0405.
Call The Rep Box Office at (501) 378-0405 or visit www.therep.org for complete ticketing details
