Gabe Seyboth

Jay Morong
LBST 1104-560
November 6, 2015
Theatre Analysis
I attended the performance of Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, at the Black Box Theater
on campus here, at UNC Charlotte on November 4th. This play is about a king, Hamlet, whose
father was murdered by his gluttonous and egotistical uncle. Very soon after the death of his
father, his mother got re-married to his uncle, whom was also the murdered of Hamlets father.
Throughout the play, it follows closely to Hamlet and how he deals with his fathers death and
how he deals with wanting and with the plotting of revenge on his uncle, as well as trying to
expose him to everyone to show that he was the murdered of King Hamlet.
Overall this was a very high-quality play and I really enjoyed attending this play. This
production of Hamlet in my opinion had very emotional and well spoken actors and actresses
that projected and enunciated well. Each person in this play played their role and character very
sound. One thing I especially enjoyed about this play and thought was an interesting perspective
was how they brought modern day reality, in to the play. During the production at one point,
Ofelia was annoyed with her father and she starts using her phone and pays no attention to him
as he was talking. A few other actors did this throughout the play as well and it creates their own
twist on things.

I think the playwright and production team in this production, were trying to act out how
they personally saw the play themselves. They brought a little dash of todays society into the
production in order to add a new perspective, as well as adding their own feature. Throughout
their efforts, I think they were also trying to accomplish keeping the play the way Shakespeare
had written it to be acted, in which I think they did a fantastic job. I have read the play as a book,
and also watched the movie, before I saw this production, and I think they kept to the script very
well. I think the creative team did a fabulous job with the creation of the costumes. When you
looked at the costumes, they were not something you would have seen when this play was
written, they were more of a modern and a mix of todays clothes, with a hint of style from back
when the play was created.
I think that this play had multiple elements incorporated into the production that were
unique, which made the play a whole lot more successful than it would have been without these
features. The first feature that I thought was creative and fit the play was the cameras in the side
hallway which was part of the set, which were shown on a projection screen on the wall. During
parts of the play, the cameras would be projected on to a full-size screen where you could see
what was going on in the hallway. This gave for more suspense and more realistic action in the
production, as well as adding a little more space for the set itself. Specifically speaking, Hamlet
chased Polonious, the father of Laertes into the hall, not knowing it was Polonious. After chasing
him down into the hallway, Hamlet still unknowing that it was Polonious, killed the man he was
chasing. We were able to watch this scene on the projection screen on the wall. This addition not
only made it look more realistic, it made for more suspense as Hamlet had to chase after him.
Another element of the play that I truly enjoyed, was the way they showed flashbacks throughout
the production. Whenever a character would have a flashback, a projector displayed a video,

posing as the flashback on all of the four different walls. The video would show what the
character was recollecting and referring to and made it look like the video was in the past to pose
as a flashback. I also think that every actor selected for their role was a fitting choice, and that
each actor did a great job of assuming their role and being the character they were supposed to
be. Lastly, I also enjoyed how there was a guard walking around the top of the set, where
someone would normally be in order to control the lights, over the stage. This added for suspense
when he was walking, as well as adding their own touch making this character seem as if he is a
guard in a watch tower. He was a guard that was watching over the castle from a higher view.
Whenever he took a step, it would make a clank against the metal, keeping you on the edge as a
suspenseful sound or song in a scary movie would do.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this production of Hamlet. I have read the play out loud
with different characters, in my senior year English class, and I have watched the movie as well.
This version of Hamlet was by far the best of the three. I have only attended one play before this
one, and it was a fifteen minute play made up by a drama class in my high school. This
production of Hamlet was exceptionally exceeding to my expectations and thoughts of how a
play works. The actor to character choice in this play was phenomenal in my opinion. Each
character really played the role of their part and each character showed great emotion. I think the
director of this play did a fantastic job with the visualizing of the script in his/her own way, in
addition to keeping it closely related to how it was written originally. In my opinion, the
directors creative aspect as far as props and stage layout, were very intriguing to me. Upon
walking into the Black Box Theater, I was taken aback by how the seating and stage were setup.
Before entering, I was expecting the theater to be setup like a movie theater with a stage, or like
a school auditorium. An additional thing that I noticed is how well the actors worked with one

another. At one point in the play, Hamlet and Laertes started fighting on the ground, and the
glasses of the actor playing Hamlet, came off. As Horatio was standing there watching the fight,
she picked up the glasses for Hamlet and held on to them until the end of the scene. As simple as
this may sound, none of them knew his glasses were going to come off, but she realized it when
they did and saved them from being crushed or broken. Actions like this show the relationship
between the actors and to me this goes a long way.