A ‘Hamlet’ With Oscar Isaac, Once Canceled, Will Run at the Public Theater — Page 3

AC126748 said: "Keep in mind that a completely uncut HAMLET would run around 6-7 hours. An adaptation of HAMLET can easily be "aggressively cut" (to use the language TFANA used) and still be quite lengthy."



From a technical standpoint, that's true, but nobody does the full version these days except for a gimmick, so TFANA would have to be out of their minds to call a 3.5 hour Hamlet "aggressively cut" when that's about a half hour longer than your average contemporary production of Hamlet. It may be aggressively cut compared to the full text, but not by general modern reckoning. That is, unless Gold has replaced large chunks of text with silent scenes, dance/movement sequences, dramatic pauses, songs, etc.

Btw, last night's first preview ended up running about 4 hrs (including the two 10-min intermissions). :) I loved it, though!!

Any thoughts on the show?

Has anyone else seen this?

I saw it last Wednesday night (which was the first paying audience) and it got out right at 11. Oscar Issac was phenomenal in the role and really put everything he had into his Hamlet. Keegan-Michael Key was also quite good. I have to be honest, there were no weak links in the cast. Roberta Colindrez also was fantastic and quite funny. The show was quite good and it was the first time I had seen Shakespeare, which at 42 seems ridiculous. I was hoping to meet Oscar post-show at the stage door, but he "snuck" out another exit. The first night that it ran, people bombarded him with Star Wars shots to sign, so hopefully that didn't sour him on meeting the fans. But with the intensity of his performance, I am surprised he has the stamina to even walk out of the theater. If you can get past the length, definitely go see it.

Hello, everyone. I heard from someone that this production includes some nudity. I'm going with my mother and I thought that I should give her a heads up if there is some lack of clothing.

Also, I would love to hear some more about this production.

TheaterGeek said: "I was hoping to meet Oscar post-show at the stage door, but he "snuck" out another exit."

The Public doesn't have a stage door.

Haterobics: They can actually exit out of the front lobby or the "stage doors" to the left and the right of the main entrance. So yes, there are in fact other ways for Oscar to exit. But, he does come out of the lobby entrance mostly. I also agree that I am surprised he even does because I was exhausted watching his performance, let alone actually performing it.

Updated On: 7/3/17 at 02:43 PM

Sam Gold understands what his audience really wants.

Caught this last week. It's a fascinating, very Sam Gold production, extremely reminiscent of his recent Glass Menagerie. The space has been designed to look not like a stage, but like part of the room the theater is in (carpet on the ground, folding table and chairs are the only set, and a faux wall seamlessly boxes in the space.) House lights are on for a good portion of the show, unlike Oscar Isaac's pants, and a musician playing the cello and some type of wood organ underscores the entire evening. It is quite an environment they build, while at the same time, feels aggressively anti-theatrical. It's extremely quiet, and the majority of the show is very monotone, save for Keegan Michael Keys unforgetable "Mousetrap" scene, and the finale, which packs quite a punch. Performances are uniformly excellent, with nearly every actor (except Isaac) playing handfuls of roles to complete the players. First act is about an hour and a half, then two other hour-long acts with intermissions in-between. If you can get a ticket, it's worth seeing.