Review: "Hamlet, A Version" by Boris Akunin

Shakespeare’s Hamlet, dramatized as a murder mystery by the famous Russian dissident writer, Boris Akunin, is not about the prince of Denmark at all. Played by Matt Weiss, Hamlet is presented as a clumsy down-to-earth creature, spending half of the time drinking and the other half hungover. Although the play is named after him, Hamlet is not the center of attention of this adaptation but a mere puppet in the hands of political schemers.               

photo by Jeremy Daniel

“How could anyone believe in a deadly snake in the northern country of Denmark? Poison in the ear – how is that supposed to work? A ghost? Seriously? I thought that one day when I become a writer I’ll sort it out.” – states Grigol Chkharishvili, who goes by the pen name Boris Akunin. The writer, mostly known for his series of detective novels about Erast Fandorin, set in 19^th century Russia, investigates Hamlet as if it was a homicide case and presents his speculation in Hamlet, A Version.

        

Largely keeping the pivotal points of the classical text intact, the playwright shifts the focus to Horatio, Hamlet’s friend. Self-proclaimed “explorer of human nature”, Horatio, portrayed by Khris Lewin, is a quick-minded and competent young man, standing out against the Danish court by his present day clothes and significantly less stylized speech. The director Irina Gachechiladze makes even his hectic appearance different from the others. Perhaps the production overpromises a bit by presenting Horatio as a bird entirely different from the flock, but I don’t want to go any further to avoid spoilers.    

As the audience chat and leaf through the programs before the play begins, the actors, half dressed in their costumes, casually appear on stage one by one. They warm up and interact quietly as they pull out shirts and skirts from the pile of clothes in the middle of the stage and put them on. The players slowly transition to characters, adding one more layer to the nesting doll of the beloved Shakespearian literary structure, a play within the play.

The eye is comforted by the monochrome, very detailed Elizabethan costumes by Heather Klar. That is until Horatio appears, the only character that “enters” in the beginning, as opposed to emerging from the process of dressing up like others. His black leather trench coat, lined with scarlet silk, and military boots are just a few elements short of a Nazi uniform. Hamlet addresses the fact that his friend is dressed in a foreign fashion but nobody seems to be too suspicious.  

The owner of another leather trench coat, Morpheus from Wachowskis’ 1999 movie, The Matrix, comes to mind considering the amount of computer graphics that the production employs. CG castle walls are blooming with flowers, or bursting with the chaotic movement of giant bugs, projected on the fringe background curtain (the projection Design by Michael Ivanishvili). The ghost of Hamlet’s father is also a projection that causes the entire picture to glitch. In addition to that, using different speakers around the house makes the most beautiful and haunting appearance.                                

Unfortunately in Hamlet, A Version, the design took one step further than the text, making a big reveal in the end rather disappointing. Throughout the show, a cast of nine fine actors seemed unsure of what they are doing and lost between the flat presentation of Shakespeare, infusion of political plotting by Akunin, and the bold design, which tricks you into thinking that things are more complicated than they are.

As a singled out theatrical event, Hamlet, A Version, is an undercooked dish. But the ambitious and fresh interpretation of the classics, slick minimalistic design and potent actors make for good ingredients and hold the show afloat.         

Much like in a series of popular novels, or an action blockbuster, some inconsistencies were left unresolved, leaving the audience wanting more answers. Hamlet, A Version, is staged in a way that makes you believe that Horatio is some kind of Doctor Who of classical literature and there are more adventures to come. After all, Akunin rewrote Chekhov’s Seagull in 2000, also making it a detective story. So who knows, maybe he has a series in mind.          

(Hamlet, A Version plays at The Theater at St. Clement’s, 423 46th Street, New York, through May 7, 2017. The running time is one hour forty minutes with no intermissions. Performances are April 27th-29th at 8, April 30th at 3, May 2nd-6th at 8pm, and May 7th at 3. Tickets are $18 and are available at https://www.akuninhamlet.com/)

Hamlet, A Version is by Boris Akunin. Directed by Irina Gachechiladze. Composed by Giya Kancheli. Sound Design is by Sam Kusnetz. Lighting Design is by Isabella Byrd. Projection Design is by Michael Ivanishvili. Costume Design is by Heather Klar. Translation by Ileana Alexandra Orlich.

The cast is Matt Weiss, Claire Brownell, Khris Lewin, Joy Hermalyn, James Phillip Gates, Allan I. Ross, Michael Sweeney Hammond, Michael Propster, Owen Scott.  

Review: “In the Boom Boom Room” is a bust bust

This is the worst play I have seen in my entire life. Here, I said it despite the risk of sounding unprofessional. But I hate feeling like I was spit on when coming out of the theater. It is pointless and harmful to continue producing “In the Boom Boom Room”, written by David Rabes in 1973. The play about a delusional go-go dance girl from Philadelphia enjoyed a Broadway run in 1973, as well as a Tony nomination for Best Play in 1974. The current revival produced by the Chain Theatre is an inadequate crippled mess, stuck in time and the fantasies of one’s sick mind.

photo by Matt Wells

Chrissy (Nina Kassa) dreams of being a ballet dancer in New York, but for now has to work as a go-go dancer in a bar called the Boom Boom Room. A troubled relationship with her mother (Malikha Mallette), a father (Pete Mattaliano) who most likely molested her as a child, and inability to lock the front door of her apartment, sets up the girl for trouble. Every time another suitor bangs on the flimsy door with a swimsuit hanging from the knob, Kassa clutches her head with her hands in panic, but then lets everybody in anyway and listens to them, jamming her brows together very intensely.

A confused girl with no boundaries and low self-esteem looks for support and friendship in her downstairs gay neighbor, Guy (Deven Anderson), and a go-go bar MC, Sally (Cori Stolbun). Both the characters and actors portraying them are the only gulps of fresh air in the entire show. Anderson, even sweating and shaking nervously, gives a sincere performance and looks both funny and vulnerable in a playboy bunny suite (costume design by Barbara Erin Delo). Stolbun is charming as an empowered woman of the 70s. Unfortunately the play discards them as unsuitable companions for Chrissy.

Two and a half hours drag on forever and you feel like you are eating dirt for every minute of it. I am not a prude and understand what a “period piece” is, but even as such, “In the Boom Boom Room” is unbearably vulgar, suffocating and vile. If you are feeding your audience with heavy sexist, racist and perverted bullshit, you need to have some sort of relief from it, whether it’s in the plot itself or done through stylization. There needs to be some space to breath, which the Chain Theatre’s production lacks entirely. Add to that inarticulate direction and sloppy acting and you will get a formula for a theatrical failure and a ruined night.      

Under the direction of Greg Cicchino for the Chain Theatre, the cast features Deven Anderson, Kirk Gostkowski, Nina Kassa, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Malikha Mallette, Pete Mattaliano, Christina Elise Perry, Tyler Reed, Cori Stolbun, Alexandra Tabas, Tina Marie Tanzer, and Paul Terkel.

“In the Boom Boom Room” runs through May 6^th at the American Theater of Actors, 314 West 54 Street, on the 4^th floor. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. Tickets are $18 and are available through www.chaintheatre.org or by calling 866-811-4111.

“Lombardi Case 1975”, an investigative adventure on the streets of New York

“I always had a soft spot for the criminal” – says Carlo Damore, the artistic director of the Live in Theater, the immersive interactive theatrical experience currently operating from Arlene’ s Grocery on the lower east side. We meet for the interview two blocks down from the bar at the company’s home office, where I overlap with Carlo’s previous meeting.

photo by Asya Danilova

While politely staring at the size 11 white patent-leather shoes laying in the corner, I catch the tail end of Carlo’s interview with a new transgender actress for the “Lombardi Case 1975” show, which I saw a week before. This murder mystery has been running for 8 straight years and is available for general audiences as well as corporate events and private parties.

The other shows in the current repertoire of Live in Theater are “Fierce and Deadly 1988” set amidst Drag Ball, “Ryan Case 1973” based on a real unsolved crime in the 70s, and “The Trial of Typhoid Mary”, where the audience not only investigates crimes, but also tries the main heroine. Misfits, the marginalized, and the “scum of society” are the main characters of Carlo’s stories, the reason for which lies deep in his childhood.

“I always had a soft spot for the criminal, mostly because I grew up with con artists and criminals”. The contrast between the loving atmosphere inside the family and the chaos of phone calls, police pounding on the door, changing identities and living under different names, was very confusing for a child. But for a grown up actor and theater director, this became a great asset.

When Carlo develops the characters for his New York history inspired shows, he doesn’t need to overcome the judgment and he doesn’t moralize. He always goes right to the heart. Maybe that’s why the characters that you encounter on the streets during the “Lombardi Case 1975” are so real and layered, as opposed to being just sets of clichés normally associated with certain professions or lifestyles.  

Junkie Monica, drag queen Vinnie the Mouth, and buildings supervisor Emil are figure in the murder of Christina Lombardi. The Chief Miller, with the assistance of officer O’Donnell, quickly fills us, the new police recruits, in on the details of the investigation before sending us off to the streets to talk to the suspects and witnesses.    

photo - curtesy of LIT

Our randomly assembled group is provided with a map of the area, with crosses on it marking the intersections where we are supposed to meet the characters. As the scenery of the lower eastside unfolds, each person on the street suddenly looks suspicious.

I was surprised by the energetic resistance, or apathy, that we encountered in some of the characters. We had to chase some of them, while others were so talkative yet flaky that it was impossible to ask our questions about their alibi and potential motives. Yes, they are obligated by the director to give us certain hints in order for the murder mystery to work, but we had to perform miraculous ingenuity, humor them, or frighten them to get this information.

“I literally say to my actors: “You can go anywhere”, - comments Carlo on his directing method for the interactive shows. “I expect you to go to peaks and valleys, I need you to change emotion on a dime”, he continues. Carlo coaches his cast to be real and to give in to the emotions triggered by the investigation by the police recruits, which causes the performance to be largely improvised. The energy given out by the actors and the momentum of their reaction is contagious, so even the shyest members of the group get sucked in.                      

The finesse of the line between the play and reality feels dangerous and exciting. It brought me back to the childhood memories of playing Cowboys and Indians. And the parallel seems appropriate, since Carlo calls the 70s in New York a “Wild West”. The only thing you are not allowed to do is to touch the actors, although Carlo remembers quite a few times when the audience members got overhyped and physical.

“We actually embrace the lack of control, we embrace the audience” - Carlo laughs at my concerns about people being too active. But in fact he practices a different form of control akin to “back leading” in dance. The strong rootedness in the character, combined with improvisation based on immediate reaction, helps the actors to create a negative space between themselves and the audience into which we are pulled. Sometimes it happens on a physical level, when the actor is trying to escape the circle of investigators and we have to chase them. But mostly it happens in the constantly expanding and contracting mental space between the actor and the viewer, alternating resistance and trust.

The story is created in this pulsating space, and the story is the most important element of the show to Carlo. He says, that from the primeval times “all that we need as humans is food, water, shelter and stories”. The unconventional, non-linier structure of the narrative, and the fact that both the storyteller and the listener have to work on it, makes it only more valuable. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but I promise, there will be blood.

There also will be drinks, fun with your friends at Arlene’s Grocery, and bonding with people who you never met over your investigation. The “Lombardi Case 1975” is both a fun adventure and a heart breaking social drama, fueled by excellent acting and accompanied by the beautiful scenery of real New York streets.

Next time the “Lombardi, Case 1975” will be performed for the general public is on Saturday, April 22^nd. To find out more about this show and the other interactive attractions, visit http://liveintheater.com/.  All of the shows are available as corporate team building events and private parties.