CBC:

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Audience:
Company: One Trunk Theatre, Winnipeg, MB
Genre: Multimedia
Venue: 25 - The Vault
The bass thumps, fists pump, and the five performers throw themselves into the bloody, and often crude, action with gusto.
—Joff Schmidt
Oh, this is not your father's Hamlet.
Purists, the faint of heart, and those not ready to have a kick out the
jams, laugh until your sides hurt good time need not attend. Everyone
else - get thee to
Hamlet As Told On the Streets.
This rambunctiously fun local production is based on an epic poem
written by Shel Silverstein (yes, the popular children's author) and
originally published in
Playboy (possibly your first clue that you ought
not bring the kids to this one).
Here, it's given a hip hop twist by
One Trunk Theatre (performers Gwen Collins, Adam Charbonneau, Joshua
Ranville, Nathan Cosa, and Tanja Woloshen, with director Andraea
Sartison).
They transform The Vault (a basement space, accessed via a near-hidden
entrance next to Peasant Cookery) into a grungy, graffitied Denmark
(complete with its own bar and special cocktail, by the way). There,
they rap, dance, and romp their way through a musical version of
Silverstein's deliciously irreverent poem, set to music by Peter
Reinhardt. And fortunately, there are handy surtitles on a video screen
for the rap-impaired, so you won't miss any of the outrageously funny
lyrics.
The bass thumps, fists pump, and the five performers throw themselves
into the bloody, and often crude, action with gusto. And the results are
invigorating and hilarious.
It all clocks in at a snappy 35 minutes, and makes a great late night
Fringe treat. So before you let those flights of angels sing thee to thy
rest, hit the streets with this Hamlet.