Prince Hamlet Presented by Why Not Theatre at The Mondavi Center at the University of California at Davis, CA (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Prince Hamlet Presented by Why Not Theatre at The Mondavi Center at the University of California at Davis, CA Delanie Harrington Dummit Prince Hamlet Presented by Why Not Theatre at The Mondavi Center at the University of California at Davis, CA. 21 October 2022. Adapted and directed by Ravi Jain. Set and costume design by Lorenzo Savoini. Lighting and production management by André du Toit. Sound design by Thomas Ryder Payne. Stage management by Neha Ross. Assistant stage management by Kim Moreira. With Dawn Jani Birley (Horatio, American Sign Language adaptation), Miriam Fernandes (Rosencrantz/Grave Digger/Player King), Jeff Ho (Ophelia), Eli Pauley (Hamlet), Barbara Gordon (Polonius), Sturla Alvsvaag (Guildenstern/Player Queen), Andrew Musselman (Claudius), Dante Jemmott (Laertes), and Monice Peter (Gertrude). Miriam Fernandes (Rosencrantz) opened the show with a call to consider “who gets to tell the story” of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but another question I found within the production was “Who gets to access it?” This is not a new question in bilingual performance, but Why Not Theatre’s performance of Prince Hamlet featured Dawn Jani Birley’s Deaf Horatio who, contrary to common theatrical standards of accessibility, seemed all-knowing as she narrated, marked, and intervened in scenes of the show. Horatio, as the surviving character of the play, was the one who remained to tell the story, yet also worked to tell it as the events occurred. The most essential context for American Sign Language (ASL) performance of Shakespeare is that it demands conceptual interpretation––ASL is not signed English, nor does English translate exactly into it. Moreover, the ASL in this performance was not simply translation, but a performance of and play with language. This gave both Jani Birley and the character she played significant control over the play’s themes and interpretation of its events. Horatio, truly, got to tell the story. Through its use of name signs (personalized signs that refer to individual persons, used instead of fingerspelling their written names), Hamlet’s aurally inaccessible monologue to Laertes in 5.1, and Horatio’s doubling as interpreter-narrator throughout, the play blurred the distinction between Horatio and the other characters. Horatio became each character and pulled me into their inward narratives. Interpretive language choices made throughout the show made Horatio’s central role clear. The choice in name signs reiterated authority or characteristics of respective characters. For example, Claudius (Andrew Musselman) was named KING, leading me to wonder what name signs he may have used prior to his inauguration, and to suspect that referring [End Page 185] to him by his reign and authority obscured other, more indicative characteristics of his moral stature or personality. Hamlet (Eli Pauley), ever the orator, was named using the familiar pose of holding Yorick’s skull before him. That this was his name sign prior to his encounter with the skull was a subtle nod to the audience’s familiarity with the story and the pose, consistent with the interactive traditions of early modern theater that likewise expected audience familiarity with its stories, especially those based in English history, classical myths, or domestic tragedies. The use of integrated interpretation also requires consideration of which interchanges were and were not interpreted. First, a few oral lines were uninterpreted in the first half of the play. Being deaf, I find myself unable to comment on the significance of these moments. Perhaps that speaks for itself. However, because these incidences decreased over the performance’s unfolding until what remained was uninterpreted for a hearing audience, I find peace in the fact that this trajectory drew attention to issues of interpretation. This was especially explicit when Laertes (Dante Jemmott) confronted Hamlet upon learning of Ophelia’s death; they rushed toward one another, fists and rapiers drawn, and the scene slowed to stillness. The surrounding cast separated the two, and the spotlight rested on Horatio, in the middle of it all. Taking Hamlet’s narrative position, Jani Birley’s turbulent signing provided the only movement on the stage, revealing Hamlet’s love for Ophelia and rage against her death. In other productions, the audience would have heard Hamlet say, “I loved Ophelia—forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their...