In the morning of my 6th day in Ashland I did a little exploring and took a drive up Mt. Ashland experiencing some nice mountain scenery. In the evening I attended OSF’s exciting production of Hamlet. It seemed both traditional and innovatively modern. [Trailer, Notes] Music played a big part in the production, mostly provided by a Doom Metal style single performer. The stage was stark black, and the character’s costumes were all monotone white, grey, and black, except for the “players” who provided a stark contrast appearing in very colorful garb.
Even though it’s a long play, it flew by. The lead was played by an OSF mainstay, and he did a great job. His performance was intense and manic. The rest of the cast, and the secondary characters, were great too. The presentation of the ghost was interesting, sometimes zipping around quickly, which isn’t what you usually see. It was one of those plays that part way through I wash wishing I could watch it again. The second half didn’t quite maintain the frenetic energy of the first half, but it ended very movingly. The uber-classic Shakespeare tragedy, where most of the characters are dead at the end.
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