‘Bernhardt/Hamlet’ @ Rover Dramawerks
—Hannah Kneen
Rover Dramawerks is presenting Theresa Rebeck’s challenging play Bernhardt/Hamlet at the Cox Playhouse this month. Directed by Janette Oswald and starring Carol M. Rice, this production focuses on legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt’s decision to play Hamlet, despite the hostility her decision engenders.
It is 1897, and the famous (and infamous) leading lady is in her fifties. To be blunt, she’s aware that she’s getting too old to keep playing the young women’s roles she’s brought to life for decades, and she doesn’t want to simply drift into playing the Gertrudes instead of the Ophelias of the stage. So this diva does something no other woman of her time has the guts to do: she decides to take on the title role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
What’s she thinking? Bernhardt believes a young man lacks the experience to take on the challenging role of the Danish prince—and an older, more experienced man can’t create the necessary aura of youthfulness. The logical conclusion is that a boyish woman, this woman, should take on the role. (Bernhardt already had played a few “pants” roles.)
We soon meet some of the men in her life: Edmond Rostand (Jorge Martin Lara), a young up-and-coming playwright Rebeck portrays as Sarah’s lover; artist Alphonse Mucha (Chuck E. Moore), who designs the gorgeous posters for her plays (collectors still chase after them); the French stage star Constant Coquelin (Brian Hoffman); and even Louis (Scott Hickman), a theater critic who is terribly offended by Sarah’s decision to cross this particular boundary. They each have their ways of approaching Bernhardt’s controversial choice and, like Bernhardt, must deal with how their mindsets and attitudes are challenged.
Rostand struggles to take the poetry out of Hamlet to create the adaptation Sarah wants, though he seems to support her efforts. Later in the play Rostand turns his attention to his own play Cyrano de Bergerac. Bernhardt’s take on Cyrano is scathing; playwright Rebeck has written Bernhardt a sharp analysis of the powerlessness and emptiness of Roxanne, the play’s heroine.
Mucha, while also supportive, does not know how to approach drawing a poster of Bernhardt as Hamlet, since he is so used to her being a flower. Bernhardt believes she is not, nor has she ever been, a flower.
Sarah has to deal with her own doubts about her decision, and even about the play itself. She is constantly thinking about Hamlet, interrogating the character of Hamlet, and questioning Shakespeare’s intentions. Rebeck’s play is full of critical interpretation and argument, asking questions about playwriting versus acting (“what is a word without a voice?”), and even the theatre itself (“what is theatre but an act of translation?”). One of the things Rice does well in her performance of this complex character is the way she emphasizes Bernhardt’s inquisitive and experimental nature.
Jenny Wood’s Rosamond (Rostand’s wife) was only onstage a short time, but her unshakable strength and quiet determination left an impression. Moore’s Alphonse Mucha was a pleasure to see onstage, and Scott Hickman’s Louis (though at moments a bit stiff) ended up being delightfully detestable. Hoffman was pleasantly amiable as Sara’s friend Coquelin (he and Rice played off each other well, especially while they worked through the ghost scene of Hamlet). And though Lara’s Rostand occasionally felt a bit low-energy, he served up a nice deadpan sort of humor. My only slight quarrel with Rice’s portrayal of Bernhardt was that Rebeck’s script had the diva feeling slightly repetitive over time—dealing over and again with the same frustrations as she tries to craft her Hamlet.
For such a complex play, the technical aspects called for are relatively simple. Janette Oswald’s set was minimalist, Kerra Sims’s costumes were period, and Kenneth Hall’s lighting design lit the actors suitably. Robbi Holman’s sound initially landed as rather incongruous—the only element out of its time, all modern popular songs sung by female artists. But I didn’t actually dislike it. The music served as a sort of bridge between the period of the play and our own times, wherein we still face many of the same issues as these 19th-century characters.
My favorite design element was the series of projections. They situated us in the world of the play, and showed Alphonse Mucha’s posters while he spoke of them. By the time the performers were taking their bows, projections were showing portraits of the historical person each actor played. And without giving away too much, my absolute favorite moment of the production involves projections that quite literally let us see a bit of theatrical history.
This play shows theatre as a place of challenge and experimentation. Bernhardt/Hamlet will leave you more thoughtful and questioning than you were when you came through the doors. It might even give you a new perspective on that old Shakespeare play.
WHEN: October 12-28, 2023
WHERE: Cox Playhouse, 1517 H Ave, Plano TX
WEB: roverdramawerks.com
