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| Kalamazoo Gazette WHAT WOULD SHAKESPEARE SAY? Kalamazoo College presents all-female cast for `Hamlet' Sunday, November 11, 2007 BY ELIZABETH CLARK Special to the Gazette KALAMAZOO In the day of the Bard, hairpieces were employed to disguise the true gender of those playing female roles, because at that time men typically portrayed all parts. Suitable stuffings in the bust further evoked the feminine characters. In Kalamazoo College's upcoming production of ``Hamlet,'' women will play the characters of men. And, like the days of old, the actors will have a little assistance, except this time it's in the form of faux facial hair and judiciously wound duct tape in the chest area. Senior Emily Harpe, who will play the title role, said she thinks Shakespeare would've gotten a kick out of K-College's gender switcheroo, but she said she'd be nervous if she spied his face in the audience. ``I think that he would be pretty pleased,'' she said. ``He clearly had a sense of humor about cross-dressing. You had cross-dressing within the play with men playing women playing men. ... I do think Shakespeare had a lot of respect for women and sort of laughed at the notion that women were inferior. ... Portia, in `Merchant of Venice,' dresses as a man and finds a loophole in the court case. It's sad that she had to dress like a man to pull that off, but I think that's the point he was making.'' Kalamazoo College associate professor Karen Berthel, a founding member of the all-female Queens Company theater troupe, is directing the production. She and other co-founders of Queens Company formed the all-female troupe to give women the opportunity to sink their teeth into the juiciest roles in classical theater, which were typically the sole domain of men. ``I was sick of being in a corset in rehearsal ... watching the guys getting to do all this great stage combat and tumble around with broad swords,'' she said. Berthel said she's yearned to stage an all-female ``Hamlet'' all her years at K-College. ``Usually the women are the minor parts (in classical theater),'' she said. ``We wanted to give women the experience of the endurance that it takes to be on stage for the majority of the play.'' Endurance, indeed. Rehearsals begin with the company doing push-ups to build body strength both for rapier battles and to assist with character immersion. Alyssa Al-Dookhi, who plays Claudius, said she feels like she's not quite as feminine as she used to be during her ``day job being a woman'' these days. Not only does she walk around campus with her chest extended and shoulders stretched out broadly and speak with a deeper chest register than usual, she said the cast is encouraged to do so. Al-Dookhi said she's relishing the opportunity to perform in a diametrically different role than her everyday one and said she particularly likes playing villains like the ``older, very sinister'' Claudius. She said she passed up an internship in Philadelphia just for the opportunity to audition for the play and recalled a phone call she placed to her mother after she read the cast list that involved a lot of ``me squealing and her squealing.'' Harpe said she hasn't heard too much grumbling from male actors that they weren't afforded the opportunity to audition for ``Hamlet.'' ``I've heard a few say, `Wow, I really would have liked to have played Hamlet' ... but that sort of grumbling has been to a minimum,'' she said. ``Very few actors get this opportunity, let alone female actors, so I'm pretty pumped. I feel a little intimidated because it's said to be the plum role in all of the history of acting, but I'm more excited than anything.'' Berthel portrayed the title role in the Queens Company's production of another Shakespearean standard, ``Macbeth'' -- an experience that had a profound effect on her both on and off the stage, she said. The empowerment she felt embodying the masculinity of the role, and the physical choices of ``standing taller, a wider stance, taking up more space physically'' continued after the final curtain of the production. ``I had an intense experience at the post office,'' Berthel said. ``I was standing there taking up space, and there was this feminine woman also standing in line. I had the experience of seeing that femininity as powerful also. ``I realized I can make any of these choices in life as opposed to only making these `female choices.''' Theater ``Hamlet'' -- Presented by Kalamazoo College, 8 p.m. Nov. 15-17, 2 p.m. Nov. 18, Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo. $1, Nov. 15 only; $15, or $10 students and seniors, Nov. 16-18. 337-7333, or www.kzoo.edu/theatre. K-College Index Hamlet By Mariah Frye STAFF WRITER Searching for “love, lust, sorrow, laughter, murder, revenge, family, blood-thirst, and the meaning of life” in all the wrong places? Search no more, friends. Hamlet is coming to the Balch Playhouse, and according to leading actor Emily Harpe K ’08, it promises to vanquish any emotional longing. But that’s not all. Unlike Shakespeare’s era of all-male casts, K’s production features an entirely female cast. “Doing it with an all-female cast shows that we are just as capable, and lets us reclaim a right to art that we were denied back then,” said Harpe, who will perform the role of Hamlet. “The casting won't affect the story at all, but I think the interpretation will be a little different,” she said. “Since women have dramatically different experiences of the world compared to men, the characters will likely come across through a different angle.” Karen Berthel, Professor of Theatre Arts, performance teacher and acting coach at K, is directing the production. Berthel is a founding member of The Queen’s Company in New York City, an all-female company performing classical plays. This year’s fall quarter production fits Berthel like a glove. “Karen is amazing to work with,” said Harpe. “She has an other-worldly gift for taking me through just the right exercises to pull out energy and truth I didn’t even know was there.” Karen’s concept for the play is, “‘women reveling in their strength and creativity,’” said Harpe. “She is the perfect person to direct this.” Harpe reports that actors playing the production’s male characters are enjoying exploring their new gender roles. “The cast gets along great as a group, and since we have to stay in our male physicality and vocalization from the moment we set foot in the theatre, we try to bond in as manly a way as possible...” Sounds like a crotch-grabbing good time to me. Hamlet will run Thursday, Nov. 15th through Saturday, Nov. 17th at 8:00 p.m., and on Sunday, November 18th at 2:00 p.m. in Balch Playhouse. |
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