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Thursday, November 12, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Arts/Entertainment
Ambiguity haunts Hamlet in University Theatre event
By KIRK ADAMS
Staff writer
The mad eyes of William Shakespeare's Hamlet will peer from a haunting gray satin skin, and the skull of poor Yorick will again be raised to audiences tonight when the University Theatre's first production of Hamlet opens in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
The costumes are intended to be timeless so that the play could be taking place anytime, anywhere. The ghost of Hamlet's father will again be seen, but this time in non-traditional yarn dredocks and a helmet with rays of aluminum flowing from its mohawk.
The visage of Charlie Chaplin on a leftover Halloween mask is on the back of a court dancer's head. The officers of the Norwegian army wear pointed German helmets. Some of the characters wear cowboy boots.
Delores Ringer, costume designer for Hamlet and assistant professor of theater and media arts, said that the costumes were not traditional.
"You wouldn't see this same production anywhere else. It is a very special one."
The backdrop for the stage and most of the costumes are made of gray acetate satin.
Ringer said that the gray backdrop and costumes symbolized Hamlet's view of the world.
She said, "It's that kind of experience, that the world is ambiguous, that Hamlet has trouble dealing with.
"For me the problem of how you would deal with an ambiguous world is a vital, important question that we all have to deal with," she said.
Kevin Crawford, Lawrence senior, who plays the title role in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," offers some cynical advice to his love interest, Obedia, played by Brenda Yungeeber. Shawnee junior.
Ron Willis, the play's director and chairman of the department of theatre and media arts, said that he wanted to allow audiences to analyze
the questions that the play, by its nature, left open-ended.
"My object was not to put those questions to rest, but rather to create a framework in which those questions are there for the audience to ask," he said.
To do so, Willis said, he tried to direct the play in a way that would cultivate its ambiguous aspects.
"The secret is to be open to all the nuances that you can possibly find, and try to pursue ideas and linkages, not just to rationalize them down to a simplistic approach."
As Hamlet, Kevin Crawford,
Lawrence senior, is taking on one of the largest male roles in the history of theater, comprising 3,600 lines.
After the first dress rehearsal, Crawford said that he was tired from working on the play but had not slept for several nights.
"It's an intense role." he said.
He said that he had been spending all his time in Murphy Hall. But he said that even though the role was difficult, he was practicing for Hamlet just as he would practice any other role.
That means memorization. He tries to memorize lines by himself and with the help of others. Crawford said that he memorized some of the play's soliloquies this summer when he read the script. The play includes the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy, among others.
But, he said, having the lines memorized is not always enough.
Crawford said that he was intrigued by Hamlet's plight: his struggle to understand the hand of fate.
"The words have to be yours," Crawford said. "You become a master of those words." The play goes on with a process of the author's, the director's and finally
"Now, inside me there is a Hamlet that I can just pull out of my pocket at any time."
"It has to be like blood. It has to fit right through your body," he said.
Crawford said that his favorite lines in the play were Hamlet's reply to a message from the king's messenger, Orcis. Orcis says that the king has bet that Hamlet, in a rapiper-dagger fight, cannot touch Laertes, whose father Hamlet killed, three times in 12 passes.
the actor's.
Hamlet's reply is, "There's a special providence in the fate of a sparrow. If it be now it is not to come; If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all."
Crawford said, "My favorite moment is probably when I say that line, because it's so calming."
At that point, he said, Hamlet realizes that it does not matter what deals hits him, but only that he is ready for whatever it might be.
He said he liked that Shakespeare wrote the play so that more than one interpretation might be correct.
For example, he said, it is not clear whether Hamlet actually goes insane or not.
Crawford said that he thought that Hamlet could have chosen from many ways to find who murdered his wife and decided to do so by playing mad.
He said that the only thing that was consistent in Hamlet's world was inconsistency. Hamlet tries to analyze the changes going on around him.
"Whether his playing mad makes him mad or not, that's a question that the audience has to decide," Crawford said.
That causes Hamlet to form manic depressive qualities, Cford said.
next minute he's insane, he's sad"
Crawford said that his work on Hamlet had made him realize how fulfilling the role could be.
"I'd sure like to do Hamlet again some time," he said. Crawford said that he could see how an actor could handle his whole life just doing Hamlet.
On Nov. 5, Willis was injured in a fall from the stage. He suffered a broken nose, a broken rib on the right
Karen Christillies, Buckhannon, W. Va., graduated student, said, "It was during a lighting cheek and he just mistook his footing."
She said, "There was really no directing that I had to do. I'm just trying to make sure that it grows into what he wants to happen."
Because of the accident, Christilles has been the play's director for the last week.
Christies said that she and Willis had been talking to each other each
day so that Willis could communicate with the actors.
Willis underwent surgery on his nose Tuesday to clear his breathing. After surgery he said he thought that he would be feeling well enough to see the play open tonight.
"Hamlet" will play at 7:30 tonight, and at 8 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20 and Nov. 21. Special high school matinees are at 1 p.m. Wednesday and Nov. 19. All performances are in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Tickets are available at the Murphy Hall Box Office.
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