![\"Hamlet-A\"](\"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hamlet-A.jpg\")
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OXFORD, Miss. \u2013\u00a0A king\u2019s death, a ghost\u2019s revelation, a brother\u2019s ambition, a queen\u2019s passion, and a son\u2019s revenge\u2013all the elements for grand tragedy can be experienced in William Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0 \u201cHamlet, Prince of Denmark,\u201d which opens Saturday, June 19, at 8 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Mississippi.
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This Saturday\u2019s production is part of the 2010 Oxford Shakespeare Festival\u2019s\u00a0 \u201cA Royal Season\u201d\u00a0and one of four for \u201cHamlet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe Turner Cant\u00fa, \u201cHamlet\u201d director and UM Department of Theater Arts acting program head, said assembling the right cast and composing a first-rate interpretation were difficult to do, but he hopes his production will be his best work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is always a challenge, but the satisfaction of bringing these classic works to our audiences is the most satisfying feeling,\u201d\u00a0Cant\u00fa said. \u201cOne \u2018thank you\u2019 from an audience member makes it all worth the effort and work.\u201d<\/p>\n
This production is consolidated so that the performance will be 90 minutes shorter than Shakespeare\u2019s version. It is also set in a later time\u2013some 300 years after he penned \u201cHamlet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent four months (off and on) cutting \u2018Hamlet\u2019 down to two hours and 15 minutes. This cutting moves and, so far, from everyone’s response, it achieves the goal of cutting as deeply as possible, without losing what represents the play’s \u2018masterpiece\u2019 qualities and popular, plot-motivated language,\u201d Cant\u00fa said. \u201cI am letting Shakespeare speak for himself in Elsinore Castle, Denmark, 1901. I have always felt that a production of \u2018Hamlet\u2019 must be elegant in style. The Edwardian period is one of the most elegant of costuming periods. Our Festival scenic designs are functional and exceptional, and in the case of \u2018Hamlet,\u2019 minimalistic yet quite elegant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Touring actor and first-time Shakespeare Festival participant Edwin Hanson plays Hamlet\u2019s\u00a0victim, King Claudius, and Hanson agrees that Cant\u00fa\u2019s interpretation makes Shakespeare\u2019s script translate well in a more modern setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Joe\u2019s vision of \u2018Hamlet\u2019 is brilliant. He set it in a time period that I think is a little cleaner for audiences to understand. The script we\u2019re using has removed a lot of the \u2018thees\u2019 and \u2018thous\u2019 and is a little cleaner while maintaining the rhythm and pulse of Shakespeare\u2019s language,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cHe\u2019s trimmed the script down without removing anything integral to the play. He\u2019s just taken a lot of the extraneous material that tends to bog it down if you\u2019re trying to do a full-length version.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cant\u00fa and Hanson agree that both UM theatre performance graduate Brian Tichnell\u2019s portrayal of Hamlet as well as the performances of all the cast members will be well received.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cast is spellbound by Brian Tichnell’s work; every rehearsal, so far, is becoming an event unto itself,\u201d Cant\u00fa said. \u201cThe entire cast fits like a glove and is working as an ensemble.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think audiences will like our Hamlet a lot,\u201d Hanson said.\u00a0 \u201cI think they\u2019ll fall in love with him within the first scene and be pulling for him the entire time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tickets for the performance are $14 for adults and $11 for seniors\/students\/youth.\u00a0 Call the UM Ticket Office at (662) 915-7411 to order.\u00a0 For more information on additional performances of \u201cHamlet\u201d and the Festival, visit <\/span><\/span><\/a>http:\/\/shakespeare.olemiss.edu<\/a><\/span><\/span>