HAMLET Trilogy

I Hate Hamletby Paul Rudnick

Hamlet by Wm Shakespeare

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

January through April 2001

ActorsNet of Bucks County

January 12 - 28, 2001

directed by Joe Doyle

cover from Bucks County "Time Off' Entertainment supplement (January 12 - 21, 2001)

Tammy Koehler as Deirdre McDavey and George Hartpence as John Barrymore's ghost in rehearsal for Paul Rudnick's "I Hate Hamlet" for the ActorsNet of Bucks County

Paul Rudnick's story of a TV soap opera star's trepidation at playing Hamlet in Central Park opened the ActorsNet "Hamlet Trilogy".  This timorous thespian just happens to be renting the apartment once occupied by John Barrymore and through a series of circumstances including a seance, accidentally conjures up the ghost of John Barrymore - "The Great Profile".

Barrymore obligingly coaches and coerces the actor into "going on with the show".  In the process some of the most famous speeches from "Hamlet" are quoted by Barrymore and it was thought this show would be a good introduction for Net audiences to the classic drama - scheduled next as the Net's first Shakespearean production.  Sell out audiences made the comedy the most successful non-musical in the little theater's history.

George Hartpence as Barrymore
Keith Kerns as TV star Andrew Rally
Tammy Koehler as Deirdre McDavey (Andrew's girlfriend)
David Anthony as Gary Peter Lefkowitz (Andrew's friend writer/producer/director)
Susan Barto as Felicia Dantine (realtor and psychic medium)
Jo Page as Lillian Troy (Andrew's agent and Barrymore's old flame)

CRITICAL PRAISE:

In The Times of Trenton, Michael Kownacky wrote:

"The cast members assembled by director Joe Doyle are all clearly having the collective time of their lives.  Their enthusiasm is infectious."

February 16 - March 4, 2001

George Hartpence as Hamlet

and featuring

Carol Thompson as Gertrude
Hugh Barton as Claudius
Tammy Koehler as Ophelia
Mort Paterson as Polonius
Barry Schechter as Laertes, Kevin Cassel as Horatio, Paul Dake as Rosencrantz, Steve Lobis as Guildenstern and Curtis Kaine as The Player King

With: Melissa Charlton, Giz Coughlin, Ryan Dethy, Phil Fagans, Stephen Hersh, Marco Newton, Ed Patton, Todd Reichart, and George Reilly as the Ghost of Hamlet's Father.   Fencing Master for the production was Maestro Mark Holbrow of the Bucks County Academy of Fencing

For four hundred years Hamlet has been the most respected and popular play in the English language.  In the words of Ernest Johnson, "the dilemma of Hamlet the Prince and Man" is "to disentangle himself from the temptation to wreak justice for the wrong reasons and in evil passion, and to do what he must do at last for the pure sake of justice.… From that dilemma of wrong feelings and right actions, he ultimately emerges, solving the problem by attaining a proper state of mind."  Hamlet endures as the object of universal identification because his central moral dilemma transcends the Elizabethan period, making him a man for all ages.  In his difficult struggle to somehow act within a corrupt world and yet maintain his moral integrity,

Hamlet ultimately reflects the fate of all human beings

CRITICAL PRAISE:

In his review of Hamlet, Stuart Duncan (Princeton Packet Time Off, Time Off Bucks County) wrote:

"This is the most uncluttered production you are apt to see of the great Shakespeare play in your lifetime — completely defined and easy to follow. Even the kids will love it. In fact, take them. ...A rousing tale of betrayal, revenge and retribution — in all its fiery heritage. ... Here, [George Hartpence] has taken a huge challenge, met it squarely and won big."

March 16 - April 1, 2001 

directed by Cheryl Doyle

Starring:
Paul Dake as Rosencrantz (in photo, center right)
Steve Lobis as Guildenstern (in photo, far right)
Curtis Kaine as the Leading Player (in photo - far left)
George Hartpence as Hamlet (in photo, center)

Featuring:
Hugh Barton, Kevin Cassel, Curtis Kaine, Tammy Koehler, Mort Paterson, and Carol Thompson.

With: Melissa Charlton, Ryan Dethy, Phil Fagans, Mitch Gerson, Keith Kerns, and Stephen Hersh

This humorous, absurdist and existentialist play concerns the misadventures and musings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,

two minor characters from William Shakespeare's Hamlet who are friends of the Prince, focusing on their actions while the events of Hamlet occur as background.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is structured as the inverse of Hamlet; the title characters are the leads, not minor players, and Hamlet himself has only a small part.  The duo appears on stage here when they are off-stage in Shakespeare's play, with the exception of a few short scenes in which the dramatic events of both plays coincide.