Bard to the Bone

by Jay Blotcher, June 29, 2011

Over the past 25 years, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has staged both the celebrated and neglected works of Stratford-upon-Avon’s high-profile resident. However, those who have trekked to performances at Boscobel, the neoclassical estate in Garrison, may have noticed an oversight: HVSF has never staged “Hamlet.” “It’s a very complex and rich play,” says founding artistic director Terrence O’Brien, “and I think I was probably intimidated by it.”

Yet after having directed works as varied as the Bard’s "Pericles," "Cymbeline," "The Tempest," "Macbeth," and "Titus Andronicus," O’Brien finally felt equal to taking on the moody Dane.

One impetus for his decision was meeting actor Matthew Amendt, who performed in last year’s HVSF production of "Troilus and Cressida." O’Brien felt that this new member of his company had the stuff to overcome the built-in liabilities of the role of the brooding prince of Elsinore.

“The part has a lot of pitfalls, not the least of which, it tends to make the player feel very egomaniacal,” the director says. “Consequently, productions tend to end up all centered not on the character but on the actor playing the character.” Yet Amendt showed no evidence of an expansive ego. O’Brien invited him to return this season, to face the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

While respectful of the text, O’Brien will not be cowed by it. In rehearsals, he has instructed his company to jettison traditional readings and seek out fresh renderings. “We try to treat it, as much as possible, I guess, as a new play,” he says.

In repertory with "Hamlet" is “The Comedy of Errors,” another chestnut previously mounted by HVSF. While this is a play “that people take for granted,” he says, “Comedy” evinces a complexity that belies the youthful age of its creator.