Zsuzsa Sándor: Versions on Hamlet
Tim Carroll is a theatrical “gambler”: he entrusted his performance, Hamlet, mostly on Fortuna. The performance of Bárka Theatre starts with the act that the viewers draw the cast of the evening. The actors know at that moment, who they are going to perform. They can use as properties, those objects, which the viewers bring with themselves, even the soundtracks are chosen from the viewers’ CDs.
Only those dare to “gamble” with Shakespeare, who trust deeply in theatre and in one another. The seemingly lazy and light performance requires hard concentration. The actors have to study more roles, and balance with the mostly improvised scenes between the shows of market places, happenings and tragedies. Their sense of proportion is excellent. However, in the “theatre of trust” there is not a settled dramaturgy, neither a counted effect with accuracy of an engineer. Instead of the feats of the technique of stage only the performance remains. The ghost of Hamlet’s father arrives on a wooden toy horse, which he rents from a viewer, the gravedigger calls a hat as Yorick. All of it can become a collection of cheap jokes, but it will not. This drama is authentic, extraordinary entertaining and moving.
In a naked theatre, everything is adventure and fantasy. It is cited childhood. The actors are walking between the viewers: they sit next to us, talk to us. The misery of Denmark is our inner, common business. Hamlet tells his monologue while hugging a lady’s shoulder: “To be or not to be?” The gesture can be intrusive, but it is natural in this world of game. Hamlet is the only role, which is not for “hire”: always Zoltán Balázs performs the prince. He is the only stable point of the performances, which are changing from evening to evening. He is a theatrical origin. For his performance, he has received lately the Miklós Gábor Award of the best Shakespeare actor of the year. Besides him, we can see among the others, Zoltán Seress, József Czintos, Olga Varjú in the changing roles.
Tim Carroll is the main director of Globe Theatre. He has tried his improvising experiments in different theatres of the world. In Bárka, Hamlet is his third performance.
Zsuzsanna Sándor, 168 óra, 2006
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
Only those dare to “gamble” with Shakespeare, who trust deeply in theatre and in one another. The seemingly lazy and light performance requires hard concentration. The actors have to study more roles, and balance with the mostly improvised scenes between the shows of market places, happenings and tragedies. Their sense of proportion is excellent. However, in the “theatre of trust” there is not a settled dramaturgy, neither a counted effect with accuracy of an engineer. Instead of the feats of the technique of stage only the performance remains. The ghost of Hamlet’s father arrives on a wooden toy horse, which he rents from a viewer, the gravedigger calls a hat as Yorick. All of it can become a collection of cheap jokes, but it will not. This drama is authentic, extraordinary entertaining and moving.
In a naked theatre, everything is adventure and fantasy. It is cited childhood. The actors are walking between the viewers: they sit next to us, talk to us. The misery of Denmark is our inner, common business. Hamlet tells his monologue while hugging a lady’s shoulder: “To be or not to be?” The gesture can be intrusive, but it is natural in this world of game. Hamlet is the only role, which is not for “hire”: always Zoltán Balázs performs the prince. He is the only stable point of the performances, which are changing from evening to evening. He is a theatrical origin. For his performance, he has received lately the Miklós Gábor Award of the best Shakespeare actor of the year. Besides him, we can see among the others, Zoltán Seress, József Czintos, Olga Varjú in the changing roles.
Tim Carroll is the main director of Globe Theatre. He has tried his improvising experiments in different theatres of the world. In Bárka, Hamlet is his third performance.
Zsuzsanna Sándor, 168 óra, 2006
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)