The University of Lethbridge is bringing William Shakespeare’s epic tragedy Hamlet into the twenty-first century, Feb. 14-18.
“Shakespeare wrote plays with mass appeal. There are some comedic moments in it. This play has blood, guts and sex and mystery. If Shakespeare was alive today, he’d be writing action movies, except action movies with a meaning,” said director Brian Parkinson.
 He has contemporized the play somewhat, moving it out of Denmark, and instead making the characters the members of an anonymous modern royal family.

 Though the dialogue is still Shakespeare, the setting and costumes have both been contemporized.
“It’s about a man whose father has been murdered and he seeks out the killer and discovers his uncle did it,” Parkinson summarized.
“ It could be anywhere and about anyone. Everything is so accessible,” Parkinson continued.

 He trimmed the production down from four hours to two-and -a-half hours.
“That was the tough part, cutting it, because it’s Shakespeare and it’s all so good,” he continued, adding Shakespeare explored universal themes which are still relevant today.
The production has a large cast of 34 different people, some of whom play multiple roles.

 Lauren Styne, is looking forward to playing Hamlet’s mother Gertrude.
“She’s a queen and gives a lot  to her status. But she’s very complicated,” said Styne, who has been in numerous University of Lethbridge  productions including BFG, Hay Fever and Hair as well as played one of the Romeos in Theatre XTra’s take on Romeo and Juliette last year.
Craig McCue is looking forward to playing the leading role of Hamlet, particularly a modern version of the character.

“It’s been very interesting,” said McCue a veteran of several University of Lethbridge productions as well as several Playgoers of Lethbridge productions.
“People can identify more with him when he’s dressed in jeans or a three piece suit rather than a doublet and hose,” McCue said.

Andrew Merrigan, also a University of Lethbridge veteran who has performed in the Govt. Inspector and Richard III as well as several Playgoers of Lethbridge productions, plays a small, but important role in Hamlet — The ghost of Hamlet’s father.

“It’s very easy to do it poorly,” Merrigan said.
“Rumour has it William Shakespeare himself used to play the ghost. He basically exposes the plot of the play to the audience. And Shakespeare wanted to make sure it was done right,” Merrigan said.
 He is enjoying working with this cast and being part of a production of Hamlet.

“There aren’t many opportunities for a young actor to perform Hamlet. Most theatre companies won’t do Hamlet because it’s too expensive, but we can do it at the university. It’s been great to work with the cast and Brian Parkinson as director, because he has so much experience in theatre,” Merrigan said.
Hamlet runs at 8 p.m. Feb. 14-18 in the University Theatre.
Tickets are available at the University Box office for $15 regular, $10 for students and seniors.