Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Shakespeare's 'HamletMachine' is post-modern

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Friday, January 19, 2001

Shakespeare's 'HamletMachine' is post-modern
Adaptation of Heiner Muller's play goes from a 200 page script to 6 pages
By Leanne Libby
Caller-Times
What: HamletMachine
   When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday; Jan. 25-27
   Where: Harbor Playhouse
   Cost: $8 general admission; $4 student; $6 senior citizens
   More Info: 888-SHOW

   Shakespeare goes post-modern at the Harbor Playhouse with the presentation of "HamletMachine," a collaborative effort between the playhouse and The University Theatre at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
   In adapting the Heiner Müller play, co-director J. Don Luna said the group whittled the 200-page script into what they viewed as its "essence," which weighs in at six pages.
   Alienation of man
   The production, featuring a nine-member cast and including original video footage and original live music, runs in the playhouse's studio theatre at 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday, followed by performances Jan. 25 through 27.
   "It touches on central themes of isolation and betrayal, and the alienation of a man without a country, in our case an illegal immigrant from Mexico," Luna said.
   The Corpus Christi production also examines what Luna called the "distance" between men and women and ways women are objectified by society.
   "It's not a linear story per se," said Luna, associate professor of theater at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, who co-directs the production with the playhouse's technical director John Wilson, who also designed the show. "It's an experimental piece that's more performance-based than strictly theater."
   Sound complicated? Turns out the interpretation is open for interpretation.
   Seduction and greed
   "The audience and their cultural framework are as important to the play as our interpretation of it," Luna said.
   For those still hungering for a plot, Luna said the stylized play involves an illegal immigrant who comes to a country "of seduction and greed," where he is put on trial and sentenced.
   While Luna performed at the playhouse in last year's production of "Death Trap," this is his first experience directing a collaborative project between the two theaters.
   "This has been one of the most gratifying rehearsal processes I have ever had," he said. "Everyone in the program has embraced the concept and embraced the challenges of collaboration between my students and the community actors without question."
   The success of last year's production of "The Rocky Horror Show" led the way for other non-traditional productions such as "HamletMachine," Pam Pailes-Earley, the playhouse's executive director, said.
   Malleable place
   "It proved to us that audiences would support more contemporary theater pieces that we wouldn't or couldn't put on the main stage." Earley said. "We have had frequent talks about ways the studio could be used. It's a malleable space. We can put the audience anywhere; we can put the stage anywhere. It provides a lot of opportunity for us to do unusual and unexpected things."
   Local composer Bill Bridges wrote the show's music, which he performs live each night. Reagan Johnson and his company, C4 Animations, created a video that runs during the show.
   "The way we approached the piece was as a series of visual images which we manipulated through time," Luna said. "We hope people get engaged with the work and that everyone will create their own play and have a different idea of what the play is."




Staff writer Leanne Libby can be reached at 886-3615 or by e-mail at libbyl@caller.com

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