Saturday, August 8, 2015

Fringe Festival 2015: "Breakneck Hamlet"

Day: 7

Show: 32

Category: Something Different

Created by: Timothy Mooney

Location: Minneapolis Theatre Garage

Summary: A one-man show of Shakespeare's most famous play that includes every scene and comes in at under an hour.

Highlights: Timothy Mooney delivers an engaging, amusing, and respectful version of Hamlet that doesn't miss a thing, despite being less than an hour long. I've seen Hamlet many times (more than any other Shakespeare play), and yet I feel like I've gained new insights through this production. Timothy is a charming host as he leads us through every scene in the five-act play, sometimes describing the action, sometimes offering historical context, and sometimes reciting lines or monologues from the play. It's super fast but feels like a complete story, and Timothy delivers his adaptation with much energy, excitement, physicality, and a great use of the space at the Theatre Garage. You've probably seen Hamlet before, but you've never seen Hamlet quite like this.

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