October 13-November 4:

Hamletmachine by Heiner Muller
translated by Carl Weber

Put Shakespeare and Marx in a blender. Add a splash of blood, naked minds, bodies and souls, a pinch of poetry, German Expressionism, and you have this evening of avante-garde speech, movement and politics unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Directed by Erika Tai.

 
The Gallery (ballet) of dead women (from left to right, top row: Danielle Dauphinée, Nomi Abadi, Thu-trang Tran, Sarah Boros; bottom row: Emily Ebright). "The woman dangling from the rope. The woman with her arteries cut open. The woman with the overdose."
Ophelia (Jessica Topliff) is led out from a coffin by Claudius (Alex Hallajian). “…the delightful Ophelia, here she enters right on cue…”
Ophelia/Chorus (from left to right, top row: Nomi Abadi, Jessica Topliff, Thu-trang Tran, Sarah Boros; bottom row: Danielle Dauphinée and Emily Ebright). "I fling open the doors so the wind gets in and the scream of the world."

Ophelia (Jessica Topliff) enters. Her heart is a clock. “I am Ophelia.”
Ophelia (Jessica Topliff) is pushed in a wheelchair by Chorus (left to right: Nomi Abadi and Emily Ebright). “I take back the world I gave birth to.”
Hamlet (left, Steven Parker) dances with Horatio (right, Peter Balgoyen). Hamlet: “I want to be a woman.”
The Actor Playing Hamlet (Steven Parker) watching three televisions without sound: “Television The daily nausea Nausea..."
Hamlet (Steven Parker) stands between Claudius (left: Alex Hallajian) and Horatio (right: Peter Balgoyen), ready to split with the ax the heads of Marx, Lenin and Mao. “…AND SHORTLY ERE THE THIRD COCK’S CROW A CLOWN WILL TEAR THE FOOL’S CAP OFF THE PHILOSOPHER...”
Hamlet (Steven Parker) speaks to his father (Alex Hallajian): “WHO IS THE CORPSE IN THE HEARSE/ABOUT WHOM THERE’S SUCH A HUE AND CRY/’TIS THE CORPSE OF A GREAT/GIVER OF ALMS…”