Duplicity, a simple fact of human nature, exposes a relevant perspective about humanity today in Sergei Burbank’s The Danish Mediations/Slots. Infected by Reality TV and other “factual” media storytelling, the modern audience should connect with the revelations made through Burbank’s use of staging Hamlet within the play itself. Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the play within the play in The Danish Mediations/Slots, is riddled with deep rooted issues of righteous revenge and how to adapt to a world where reality is but a mask of the truth, where every smile, every cry, every word is suspect because no one can be trusted. As it is in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, so it is eloquently portrayed in Burbank’s The Danish Mediations/Slots, every character has an objective and everyone can play each other false, it’s human nature.
Through the use of video diaries, each of the actors soliloquizes about his/her experiences in and reflections about the rehearsals for the Hamlet show. In Act I, we are taken on a farcically comedic, fast-paced, snapshot-view of the production process with interjected video commentary between the live acted scenes; the transitions of which are masterfully manipulated by director, Adam Karsten. The video, showing close-ups in a simple apartment, juxtaposes the live scenes in the rustically charmed rehearsal studio. Kathryn Singer’s functional and balanced set design of furniture pieces, black masking, a few paintings, a tripod on top of a large area rug, and a ladder on top of a large canvas painter’s cloth, mirrors the concept of juxtaposition and duplicity very well. As the play progresses and conflicts between characters are revealed, we are nearing the final production stages. Kiah (Jason Updike), with powerful sincerity, motivates the cast in rehearsal at the end of Act I, “What we fear is that to which we aspire most…Every night we’re going to have a different Hamlet…” Then each character in the ensemble majestically delivers a part of Hamlet’s soliloquy from ActIV.Scene4 to bring us into Intermission.
Act II continues our voyeuristic journey through their production process into the performances. Subplots are revealed and duplicity is the name of the game. We are seamlessly moved through the dressing rooms of the boys: TV Star, Charles (Jason Altman), and the videographer, Sam (Gary Patent); and of the girls: Em (Anna Kull) and Liz (Fayna Sanchez). Through Kate Ashton’s subtle lighting shifts, creatively enhanced by the make-up mirror lights, focus shifts effortlessly between the gray and black tiled-floor dressing room scenes on opposite sides of the stage. In the center of the two dressing rooms, the actors fluidly dance through the imaginary dressing room doorways and enter the “onstage” area, defined by the black floor, where fight calls, mopping, and post-show relaxing occur.
Act II, with much less video commentating, has a beautifully tragic, naturalistic tone where Adam Karsten and Sergei Burbank have equally directed and written counterpoint moments to build the characters’ relationships. The scenes where the boys in one dressing room encourage each other to ask out the girls, and at the same time the girls have a distinctly different conversation in the other dressing room, intelligently increases the dramatic tension within the arch of the play. In terms of tension, I’m not sold on the choice to go into intermission and to end the play without the use of some sort of sound punctuation. The audience was hesitant to clap, not certain if there might be more.
Each compositional element: the script, the direction, the acting, and the design; in The Danish Mediations/Slots mirrors the idea of the duplicity in Hamlet. The selections of the Shakespearean texts that were chosen further illuminate similarities between each of the shows, as well as typical human nature. Acting on impulse, reacting, masking true emotions and circumstances, betrayal of self/friends, revelations of truth, these principles of human behavior are exposed. And this ensemble cast, including those mentioned above as well as Ryn (played by Noelle Holly), truly masters the act of acting, with strong objectives and actions throughout and manifested through an array of emotions. Karsten’s direction moves the ensemble through thoughtfully balanced pictures, like the end of the video from Em talking about killing into the top of the next scene, lights up on the tableau of the end of Hamlet. The Danish Mediations/Slots succinctly draws focus to human flaws and thus relates everyday people to Hamlet, making this an accessible show for a modern audience.
(Reviewed on August 30, 2007)
Remaining Show Dates: 9/1, 9/2, 9/6 - 9/9 @ 8:00pm Access Theater
