Hamlet triplet: 3 times the tragedy

Mount Royal is doing Shakespeare again, and you should give it a chance if you’re already rolling your eyes and groaning over a play you think you won’t enjoy.

This performance of Shakespeare is as relevant as it can be to the modern audience. In fact, they’ve cut any reference that would only be understood by an Elizabethan audience.

Sorry to English majors and Shakespeare purists, but this is not your grandfather’s Hamlet.

Instead, the cast and crew of Mount Royal’s theatre department, under the direction of Ian Prisloo, are trying a new spin on the classic, and audiences will notice the biggest change right off the bat; three actors are sharing the role of Hamlet.

(Clockwise from top left) Simon Tottrup, Brianna Johnston and Bradley Doré all star as the titular character in Hamlet. It isn’t that they each take turns playing the character on different nights, they all three play different parts of the same man, constantly going back and forth with each other. Photo: Nathan Ross

“It’s meant to make the self-argumentative nature of the character easier to understand,” said Nathan Iles, who plays a number of roles including Rosencrantz. “They all play three different sides of the same person.

“Hamlet’s famous soliloquies become interrogation scenes between the three of them.”

While there is a lot of addition and subtraction happening in the play, the cast feels that the core of the play is going to be strengthened as a result.

The play still revolves around the family relationships, and the delicate balance of how each relationship destroys every other relationship is still a crucial element.

“This production is more personal, more realistic and more relatable,” said Simon Tottrup, one of the three actors playing Hamlet along with Bradley Doré and Brianna Johnston.

“The concept (of three Hamlets) is supported so incredibly well throughout the text that I can’t help but wonder if Shakespeare wrote it with something like this in mind.”

Tottrup’s enthusiasm is shared around the theatre department, as he feels that the theatre department has captured lightning in a bottle.

Hamlet is running in the Nickle Theatre until Dec. 1. The show is only $10, which should be well worth the price.