Hamlet Play Analysis

Shakespeare is a big passion for many actors and patrons in the theatre community, including myself. Not only have I been blessed to take a role in the creation of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s production of Richard II, I deeply enjoy supporting the company’s other works including, but not limited to, Romeo and Juliet and A Winter’s Tale. As someone who often goes to the theatre not only to perform, but to observe and listen, it is crucial for the actors onstage to take the text, make it their own, and still support themselves through their breath and muscles as well as keep their natural voice. However, this was even more important in this specific instance because I had never had the opportunity to go see Hamlet in its entirety until

It was very easy for an audience member to identify each of the characters’ voices. For example, Ethan Jones, who played Polonius in this production, had a very deep and rich tone as he spoke the language. While Polonius could have been portrayed as a much brasher character if another actor were to portray him, Jones created a calm yet stern and clever demeanor through just his voice. Shawn Knight, the actor portraying Bernardo as well as a performer who happens to be a good friend of mine, has a much different voice than Jones. Knight’s voice lands naturally at a much higher pitch more in his upper body. However, that did not limit his performance because it was still evident that he was supporting his breath and the sound that came out. Even though he was performing Shakespeare, he did not attempt to change his voice in order to sustain a stereotypical low Shakespearean range, but instead found benefits in his own voice, both in comedic and dramatic scenes. Each actor also, for the most part, used excellent support and diction, something that is very important with language as rich as the dialogue used in Hamlet. One aspect of the production that has yet to be spoken about, however, is the unique performance of the titular character

For example, when the ghost of Hamlet’s father approaches Hamlet through a visual effect on a projection, it was extremely difficult to understand what he was saying. It was either because the diction of the actor was not crisp enough to understand or because the sound of his voice was muffled due to the sound effects onstage, or perhaps both, but either way, the scene where the king’s ghost speaks to his son was almost impossible to understand. This shows the importance of good support, voice, and diction, since without it, the audience will not be able to focus on the characters’ feelings and the story they are trying to tell. I could also tell that Audrey Tchoukoua, who played Laertes, had a slight accent whilst scanning the dialogue. While he typically used a standard American accent, the other foreign accents would sometimes slither its way through. Perhaps it is not a completely negative aspect if his performance, but it was noticeable when everyone else was consistent in their