Anyone who has ever read Goldilocks aloud, performing the range of voices from the booming Papa to the whining Baby, will have some idea of what to expect from Raoul Bhaneja’s Hamlet (Solo).
That’s not to say that this performance is child’s-play, for Bhaneja is not just switching voices as he retells the play, alone on a bare, black stage. He is becoming the characters, in all their emotional dysfunction. His expressions and deportment change with mercurial speed and his characterizations are so uncanny that one audience member remarked at intermission that actor who played Polonius was particularly wonderful, as if there were indeed a cast of actors.
The unique presentation allows Shakespeare’s words to shine, and familiar phrases jump out with new clarity. It also requires spectators to flesh-out the scenes in their minds—a welcome test for a society so often force-fed images.
See Hamlet (Solo) on May 9 at 2 pm and May 10 at 8 pm at the Alderney Landing Theatre, 2 Ochterlony St, Dartmouth. 1-888-311-9090
This article appears in May 3-9, 2007.