Ignoble Dane

By T.E. Kalem

HAMLET By William Shakespeare

Sarah Siddons was the first woman to play the role of Hamlet, in 1775. Her most illustrious female successor in the part was Sarah Bernhardt (1899), and in more recent decades, Eva Le Gallienne, Judith Anderson and Siobhan McKenna have appeared as the Prince of Denmark.

These women were and are accomplished actresses. Diane Venora, who is fumbling with Shakespeare's greatest role at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, is an unseasoned neophyte of 29 who is woefully miscast in this ever-so-demanding part. If the intent of the casting was to display the womanly aspects of Hamlet's nature, this production fails abominably. Venora is the most macho Hamlet to appear in years. For much of the evening, she struts about like a fascist bullyboy.

In Papp's humdrum direction, only the moments of lowdown violence stand out. Hamlet stabs Polonius (George Hall) as he stands behind the arras not once but repeatedly in an orgiastic frenzy. In the dueling finale with Laertes, Venora kicks him in the rear, scarcely the mark of the "noble Dane." In the bedroom scene, this Hamlet pummels Queen Gertrude (Kathleen Widdoes) so bruisingly that when the poignant line "How is it with you, lady?" is uttered, the audience breaks into semi-suppressed laughter, having witnessed the beating the lady has taken.

In recent years, there has certainly not been a more humorless Hamlet, nor a less philosophical one. Perhaps symbolically, the top acting honors go to George Hall, who doubles as the sly, salty old gravedigger.

--By T.E. Kalem

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