I pride myself on being a very objective and aloof person.
Yeah, right. I’m a sobbing mess of pent-up emotions and unshed tears for every little thing.
This is why the thought of a prison doing such a common and heart-warming thing such as putting on a play seems to me like the cutest thing and makes me almost sigh in adoration. At the beginning of the radio clip, I had the wrong idea that when they said they were presenting Hamlet in a prison, they were literally converting the play to take place in a prison, in that way broaching a new take on the plot. So when the auditions came by, and the constant mispronunciation of words such as ‘Rogue’, ‘flaggen’, and ‘rennish’ were a common occurrence, I seriously questioned the director’s interests and the actors’ obvious inability to read.
But then I finally learned the reality of this scheme and it left me jaw-slacked. The narrator spoke of this play as being “different because it’s a play about a man pondering a crime and its consequences, performed by violent criminals living out those consequences.” Never have I ever witnessed such a display where the same actor playing a killer or an alien, is in actuality that same thing. This is a completely new take on Hamlet seeing that the actors themselves personally feel the emotions portrayed in the text. They can fabricate true conflict by giving great reasons to kill him and good reasons not to (because they certainly have the experience and guts to do it). In that same way, it makes Shakespeare’s Hamlet convert into a personal chronicle of the prisoners and become a reality on stage.
Besides the creativity of it all, as much as it is a completely imaginative innovation that for me means a great deal, there is also a sort of medicinal quality to the project. Forgetting that these actors are former gangbangers or post-office employees that in some way managed to get themselves thrown in this place, they are humans that want a new chance at life, and by no means are living anything close to it. One of the men who play Hamlet, Edgar, spoke of how the director and the play makes him feel human. He said that, after “all the humiliating things they do to us,” such as pride their bare legs open, spread their cheeks wide and other degrading things they wouldn’t do otherwise, “for that minute when they [the director, the play] come, I can at least feel human. In a way this is a coping mechanism and hope for them that is rare in their circumstances. The director has made this a production that has managed to not just entertain, but enlighten and relieve.
Another interesting thing is how they used four Hamlets instead of just one. According to them, it was solely due to the purpose of giving everyone lines and not burdening anyone with those never-ending histrionic soliloquys. But I find that to be so interesting because, seeing as Hamlet is such a complex character, with a variety of conflicting thoughts and multiplicity of mood swings, what better way to portray that than by making him out to be represented by four different people? In this way, they perfectly accomplish depicting the “fractured quality of bonded personalities” that is the character of Hamlet.
It’s funny when you think of taking advice from a prisoner. It’s like, “Oh, I’m having boyfriend problems, let me just as the woman who got put in prison due to her jealousy and her stabbing her husband to death.” Yeah. No. But for some reason, when these prison mates talk of the play and their opinions about it, they say some things that, for me, seem really interesting. They have such a fresh perspective on everything. Big Butch, for example, critiques Horatio for supposedly being Hamlet’s best friend but how he’s always saying “yes, milord,” and that if you’re someone’s real friend, you’re going to tell him everything and fuck any formalities. You’re not going to wait until the end of the freaking play to demonstrate that you care after acting like a completely subservient stranger the whole play. Then he considers Hamlet’s inner conflict and his hesitation for killing Claudius and wonders why it you already know you’re eventually going to do it, why bother waiting? And how “If I’m strong enough to believe in ghosts, than I’m strong enough to believe in what the ghosts tell me. “ The last one being so dry and funny that I couldn’t believe it. Those are questions I would have never thought of and it makes me feel stupid. Inmates make me question my intelligence. Who would’ve thought?
This is a turn from the usual interpretations of this well-known play. Taking people that are assaulted, strip-searched, and humiliated to share this opportunity to express themselves is a real feat. Not only are they creating a completely new analysis of the work, but it also makes for a very inspiring process. For them, this is a break from their harsh reality and a chance to finally use their minds for something important. One of these guys, Brad, says, “If you don’t keep exercising your mind, you lose it.” And it’s true. This is a way to make Hamlet more real and to give them a chance to, via the meaning and concept of the play, think about their actions and their wrongdoings and give them any hope they had ever lost.
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