“Hamlet” at the Taper – Not for the kiddies!

A murder most foul!

“The Tragedy of Prince Hamlet” at the Taper

by Bondo Wyszpolski

After an exaggerated visual and sonic fanfare that evokes (and parodies) a noirish thriller and a 1930s Universal Pictures horror film, we encounter Prince Hamlet (Patrick Ball) and Ophelia (Coral Peña) making out like crazy. Ophelia then slips off her panties and playfully tosses them to her lover so he can pocket them for further pleasure. It’s the opening salvo that puts us on notice that this isn’t going to be your father’s “Hamlet.”

What we do have is both an abridgement and adaptation to Shakespeare’s longest play, a drama that isn’t all that easy to follow, even with notes and explanations. So one can’t really fault director Robert O’Hara for wanting to speed it along and, well why not, adding some bawdy to the Bard while merging Hamlet with Hammett.

You know the gist of the story. Hamlet’s father has been murdered by Uncle Claudius (Ariel Shafir) so that he could marry Hamlet’s mother (Gina Torres) and ascend to the throne as king. The ghost of Hamlet’s father (Joe Chrest) comes along and tells his son how the murder occurred and then demands to be avenged. Hamlet pretends to be mad while concocting plans with his pal Horatio (Jakeem Powell) and meanwhile Claudius is conniving to have Hamlet sent away and eventually killed.

Then there’s the jilted Ophelia, her brother Laertes (Ty Molbak), and their father Polonius (Ramiz Monsef), the latter mistakenly stabbed to death by Hamlet, which doesn’t earn the latter any points by his victim’s two children. In other words, there’s plenty of plotting and intrigue and in the end all hell breaks loose and everyone dies — most famously, perhaps (thanks to Tom Stoppard), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Molbak, and Danny Zuhlke).

O’Hara has garnered a reputation as a director who aggressively pushes the envelope, and local audiences may remember his production (staged at the Taper) of “Slave Play,” written by Jeremy O’Harris. It was edgy and provocative, but a nice breath of fresh air if one subscribes to the notion that theater should engage, caress and poke at the same time.

However, the danger in that kind of approach, provoking for provoking’s sake, is that it can backfire, and by insinuating that Hamlet and Horatio are lovers, and mixed-race lovers, mind you, O’Hara seems to be evoking Robert Mapplethorpe as well. Or not. Many things come to mind.

These theatrical hijinks have put this rendition on unstable ground: To like or not to like, to praise or not to praise, aye, there’s the rub. Not everyone’s going to go for this tampering.

Furthermore, there’s the problematic last third of O’Hara’s take, which is to turn the tables on what we’ve been following and to bring in Detective Fortinbras (Joe Chrest) to interrogate the actors, as actors this time, not as their characters, about the foul deeds that have occurred on what has presumably been a movie set. Elsinore Enterprises, so to speak.

My impression is that O’Hara has rushed us past his condensing of Shakespeare’s play so that he could indulge himself (and, yes, us as well) with a kind of ribald and potty-mouthed whodunit where-were-you-on-the-night-of roundtable. My guess is that many viewers did not appreciate this 180-degree turnabout, but it sure was a lot easier to follow than the earlier parts where understanding the dialogue was a big challenge (I pretty much floundered in it, and I’d just read the play).

Before I give my verdict on the success of this production, let me say that the acting was commendable throughout. That Patrick Ball could have memorized so many lines, and saying them effortlessly, is impressive, although he and Horatio (meaning Jakeem Powell) spoke them a little too fast, and often not as eloquently as true Shakespearean actors (I always think of Mark Rylance in “Twelfth Night”). Monsef’s Polonius was a bit quirky but pleasing, as was Fidel Gomez as the Gravedigger. Gina Torres brings a solemn intensity to her tragic role and, well, the cast in general has their chops down.

The same can be said for the scenic design (Clint Ramos), the lighting design (Lap Chi Chu), as well as the original music and sound design by Lindsay Jones. Dede Ayite seems to have had a field day coming up with various costumes.

Despite its aesthetic achievements, this “Hamlet” lacks the spark that makes it something you’d recommend to others. Often you know when the houselights go on if a show is memorable or not, although I like to mull it over for a few days just to be sure. No, this one’s on the odd side, well done even, but not memorable. And ultimately it’s not a good choice for the Taper at this time, when the venue is still struggling to regain its former eminence.

Hamlet is being performed through July 6 at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave, downtown Los Angeles in the Music Center. Playing Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2:30 and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets from $40.25, at the box officer, by calling (213) 628-2772, or online at CenterTheatreGroup.org. ER