Issy Cory
Song of the Goat are back with another take on Shakespeare, bringing Hamlet – Wakefulness to Edinburgh’s Summerhall. This years ‘theatre experiment’ explores the pagan rituals surrounding Polish mourning traditions, and seeing how this may translate onto the death of Hamlet’s father in a prequel-esque piece.
Using polyphonic harmonies to illustrate Shakespeare’s celebrated play, Song of the Goat accompany an impressive score of song with contemporary choreography, and live music from a nyckelharpa.
Whilst this all sounds very interesting, the result of these elements is… bizarre. Grzegorz Bral introduced the piece before it began, telling us about Polish funeral practices, and linking this to what we were about to see onstage. He told us that we would explore the night of Hamlet’s father’s death, and yet we ended up going through the entire play despite this concerned introduction.
From the get-go, the production is ultimately preoccupied with its choral aspect. It is an amazing sound, and the chorus have a talent rarely seen onstage. The sound is, however, too much to bear at times. There is a constant drone of cloudy harmonies, and the score is yearning for some light and shade, or any contrast at all.
There are too many strange directing choices to count. After smashing a bouquet of roses on the table, the ghost of Hamlet’s father shoves the petals in his mouth before spitting them out two minutes later. That same ghost tells Gertrude “Quiet, bitch!”, in a sudden and nonsensical outburst. To top it all off, Laertes is continually, and quite uncomfortably, groping Ophelia throughout their incestuous, amateurish, fraught dances. I frequently had to look away.
The staging feels very much in the right world of Hamlet. Intricate metalwork adorns the chairs onstage, and there is an obvious consideration of the dark moody colour palette that this play so often evokes.
With such unforgiving amplification, the lyrics are often muddied, made even worse when characters have to speak over a belting chorus. There is also little indication as to who is who, so the audience are, ironically, consistently kept in the dark throughout Hamlet – Wakefulness.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Summerhall’s Main Hall was unbearably hot. Multiple patrons walked out, whether this was due to the temperature, or the production, it’s hard to tell. Was this a mishap on Summerhall’s part, or a decision from an overprotective director to prevent the air con from making too much noise? You choose…
Recommended Drink: Take water to this show. For health reasons more than anything else.
You can catch Hamlet – Wakefulness at Main Hall at Summerhall from Aug 13-15 at 22:50. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake Mace
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
