Adaptation Defined: ISC's Avant-Garde, Reverse-Gender 'Hamlet'

By Gabriel Morales

For the Real Critics Blog

Yeah, so, I wanted to do the whole start-with-a-dictionary-definition thing, but the primary denotations of "adaptation" were too simple. I mean, "the act of adapting; the state of being adapted." Really? That's it? Then I scrolled down... Turns out the biological definition is not only more detailed, it's wholly appropriate, even perfect for the subject of this piece.

You see, on far too many occasions I've seen Shakespeare "adaptations" that only require the creative efforts of the production’s aesthetic designers. Pick a decade, find the right garb, Google pics of the right haircuts, scrounge around for a few props and you're set. That's an adaptation, right? Uh, not quite.

Check this, courtesy of Dictionary.com:

"Adaptation [ad-uhp-tey-shuhn] –– noun — 4a. Any alteration in the structure or function of an organism or any of its parts that results from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive and multiply in its environment."

Besides providing Western culture with some of its most celebrated and enduring literary works, the Bard's tome gives the modern troupe something few scripts can: pliability. Sure, just about any ancient text can be changed (no licensing fees, copyright liabilities, etc.), but Shakespeare is different. Big Willy's plays, with their timeless psychological complexity, built-in fanbase and familiar narratives — especially "Hamlet," the best of his best — provide innumerable possibilities to be daring, innovative; to wow your audience by transforming 400 year old scripts into relevant, cutting-edge entertainment. The trick is to go deeper than the skin.

Cue Inland Stage Company's "The Suffragette Hamlet," a true, high-caliber adaptation. Set in the 1910's during the height of America's women's rights movement, adroit adapter/director Darcie Flansburg goes beyond the trivial to give us a whole new reimagining. She reverses the genders. No, it's not one of those dilettante epicene-ist efforts where women are merely dressed in pants and play the male roles. No, Flansburg completely flips the script: Hamlet is a young woman, whose mother is murdered by her aunt, Claudia; whose boyfriend, Ophelio, loses it and drowns himself after Hamlet murders his mother, Polly; whose fateful duel with Ophelio's bloodlustful sister, Lydia, results in Hamlet's — and just about everyone else's — brutal, untimely end.

In their flipping, Flansburg and her strong cast — doing their best work — manage to breathe new, modern life into the Bard's perennial drama.

Yvonne Flack delivers as Hamlet. A Ph.D candidate in literature and film, currently working on a dissertation about “Hamlet,” Flack has an extraordinary understanding of the play and titular character, which lent well to her interpretation and performance.

Emphasizing the (often hilarious) intrigue between Hamlet and her childhood friends, Rosie Crantz and Guilda Stern, is a wonderful touch, readily showing off Flansburg’s comedic prowess through the sparkling chemistry of Kaylee Tardy and Erin Christine Feaster (Rosie and Guilda, respectively).

The idea of twin sisters made the grisly familial intrigue even more lurid. Utilizing the same actress (Monica Reichl) for the roles of the Claudia and Hamlet’s mother’s ghost was another great choice. As was John Wesley Leon’s (Gerald) in playing out the drama as unaware of his sister-in-law’s, er, second wife’s murderous streak until the closing genocide. As was having Ophelio (Dane Johnston) drunk and bottle-nursing during his pre-suicide ramblings.

And the clincher... the element that puts this production among the best Shakespeare you’ll see in the I.E., is the live music: part creepy Baroque, part dark Victorian jazz, part experimental Spanish guitar, and all Sean Longstreet — the überskilled one-man band that riffs and jams under and around the actors’ spoken poetry, creating a haunting, even cinematic effect — especially during Hamlet’s monologues — that’d be a crime to miss.

According to Paul Gaugin, the French Post-impressionist painter, "Art is either plagiarism or revolution." So... Dying for a bit of theatrical insurrection? originality? change? Then do yourself a favor, and catch ISC's genuine adaptation "The Suffragette Hamlet," or "Hamlette"... or what you will.


ISC's "Hamlet" runs through March 27 at the Esplanade Art Center in San Jacinto. Visit www.inlandstage.org for details.