Hamlet

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Kenny Leon

Costumes by Jessica Jahn, Lighting by Allen Lee Hughes, Sound by Justin Ellington, Projections by Jeff Sugg

Delacorte Theatre

2023

Hamlet

“For those who remember the 2019 Shakespeare in the Park production of “Much Ado About Nothing” — as I do, fondly — the sight that awaits them at this summer’s “Hamlet” in the same location is disturbing. Entering the Delacorte Theater, you are immediately faced with what looks like a copy of the earlier show’s set, which depicted the handsome grounds of a grand home in a Black suburb of Atlanta. But now it is utterly ruined. The facade is atilt, the S.U.V. tipped nose-first in a puddle, the Stacey Abrams for President banner torn down and in tatters. The flagpole bearing the Stars and Stripes sticks out of the ground at a precipitous angle, like a javelin that made a bad landing. For the director Kenny Leon and the scenic designer Beowulf Boritt, both returning for this “Hamlet” — the Public Theater’s fifth in the park since 1964 and 13th overall — it’s a coup de théâtre.” ~Jesse Green, The New York Times

“At Shakespeare in the Park’s latest version of Hamlet, it's clear from the hip hop, blue face masks and vanity Georgia license plate ("ELSINORE") that we're not in 16th-century Denmark anymore. In fact, for anyone who saw director Kenny Leon's revelatory Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte four years ago, it seems to unfold on an exploded version of that production's set, with designer Beowulf Boritt's stately Southern mansion now in ruins. Boritt's Elsinore is a physical manifestation of Hamlet's psyche and his family's downfall. Everything is broken and askew, including an American flag and a torn STACEY ABRAMS 2020 sign; only a solemn portrait of late Hamlet's father hangs straight, overseeing the waste.” ~Raven Snook, Time Out New York

“Beowulf Boritt's set depicts a finely furnished present-day house with a Stacey Abrams poster out front and a car with the license plate ELS NOR (a clever nod to Elsinore, the name of the Danish palace in Shakespeare's text) off to the side. The whole scene is half-buried and askew, suggesting a world turned upside down even before the events of the play begin.” ~Gillian Russo, New York Theater Guide

“In 2019, Beowulf Boritt designed a revival at the Delacorte of Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenny Leon. Set among the progressive Black bourgeoisie of Atlanta, its scenery was especially sumptuous, featuring a brick-and-slate house exterior with a second-floor gallery, surrounded by a vast green lawn, complete with a stone patio and an array of peach trees. Attached to the house were two enormous signs, announcing "Stacey Abrams 2020." It was an ideal setting for Leon's appealingly contemporary take on William Shakespeare's comedy. A lot has happened in the ensuing years, and it seems appropriate that this Hamlet, also directed by Leon and set inside a powerful Black dynasty, should unfold on a ruined version of Boritt's design. Something -- Floods? Hurricanes? An uprising? -- has laid waste to the estate. The house has been knocked over; an Abrams sign is muddied and lying on the ground; and an interior wall has been ripped free, tilting precariously. It's a startlingly apt framing of our beat-up post-pandemic world; Elsinore, riven by fear, suspicion, and discreetly plotted killings, uncannily mirrors the polarized, COVID-scarred America of 2023.” ~David Barbour, Lighting and Sound America

“The set evokes this contemporary moment—with a torn-up Stacey Abrams campaign sign, and a smart SUV seemingly stuck, crashed, to the left of the stage that contains the shells of two houses.” ~Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast

“For Hamlet, now two-time Tony-winning set designer Beowulf Boritt (Act One and New York, New York) has built another of his stately brick mansions—one that looks like it might collapse at any moment (a metaphor if ever there as one).” ~ Melissa Rose Bernardo, New York Stage review

“Those who remember director Kenny Leon’s excellent production of Much Ado About Nothing for the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park back in 2019 may experience shivers of recognition upon seeing Beowulf Boritt’s scenic design for Leon’s new production of Hamlet at the Delacorte Theater. Boritt’s verdant set for the earlier production, fresh and blooming with possibility, has curdled into a broken-down apocalypse, with the “Stacey Abrams 2020” banner once proudly displayed now merely half-visible amid the ruins.” ~ Kenji Fujishima, Theatermania

“Leon brings Hamlet to the present-day American South. As the show begins, the dead King Hamlet receives a military funeral, and his portrait in formal marine dress hangs at the back of the set, sternly watching over the rest of the play. The director is picking up a lot of the ideas he deployed in his 2019 take on Much Ado About Nothing, which cast an ensemble of Black actors led by Danielle Brooks, set the action in present-day Georgia, and encouraged awareness of what race can bring to the text. This time, Leon similarly struck place names from the script (you won’t hear anyone mention Denmark or even Elsinore) and brought things nearer to the present day — specifically 2021, according to the Public’s notes — and there’s a bit of business with actors donning and removing surgical masks. Much Ado had a Stacey Abrams 2020 campaign sign onstage; Beowulf Boritt’s designs for the Hamlet set also include a Stacey Abrams 2020 sign, though this time it’s half buried in the ground as if displaced by a lightning strike at the side of the stage.” ~ Jackson McHenry, Vulture