Shakespeare’s plays seem to inspire endless adaptations close to the original source material and distant. Using a combination of circus and theatre, New York Circus Project has taken an innovative and highly visual approach to this staging of one of Shakespeare’s most highly acclaimed tragedies.
Considering that Shakespeare’s longest play can easily run at over three hours, condensing it down to one hour and using circus as the primary medium of storytelling is a bold choice. The story is largely kept intact in that it follows the same trajectory as the original, albeit with a focus on the most significant events. There is some spoken text, but this is kept to a minimum. Given some of the company are trained actors and some are not, the quality of the acting and verse speaking varies across the cast. Whilst there is scope to integrate more speech, what is there is used effectively and seamlessly integrates with the circus sequences.
Acrobatics and aerial work are the primary skills used, though there’s also a contortionist act and some juggling. Though impressive, some of the narrative functions of the circus sequences jar with the story of Hamlet. Ophelia’s death, for example, is beautiful but gratuitously sensual. The dead king’s ghost has a similar dynamic, and some of his interactions with Hamlet are flirtatious rather than familial. It could also be difficult to follow the story without knowing the original play, but this is a sophisticated blend of both circus and theatre.
HAMLET by New York Circus Project, Assembly Roxy, until 24 Aug (not 11, 18), 7pm