Media

This is where we’ll be posting pictures and videos. Keep an eye on this space. Once the cast is selected, and we start rehearsals, you’ll be able to keep track of progress on this page. Some items are available for purchase at Amazon.com, and doing so by clicking on the provided links will help pay for production costs.

“This same skull, sir, was Yorick’s skull, the king’s jester.” Act V, Scene 1.

We haven’t had auditions yet, and rehearsals won’t start for quite a while, but one important cast member is already sitting on the producer’s bar waiting for his big scene. Poor Yorick. Hamlet knew him. People frequently misquote the line and say that Hamlet knew him well, but did he? After all, Hamlet would have only been about seven when the jester died. Real skulls being a little creepy (not to mention hard to come by), this one is cast polystone and available online.

© 2014, 2015, C.P.C. Theatrical. All rights reserved.

“Speak the speech, I pray you.” Act III, Scene 2

Hamlet is a very long play, and almost never presented uncut. This was probably true even in Shakespeare’s time, when the average play ran about two hours (or so the Bard suggested in the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet). We’ve done our own cutting, and printed up custom scripts for the actors to use. Once our show has been presented, we will very likely make these available for sale to any other company that would like to do the same version.

Hamlet’s Sword and Dagger

The cruciform sword is one of the most commonly seen props in any production of Hamlet, serving a crucial function after the departure of the Ghost in Act I, Scene 5. Only the dagger could ever be used as a practical weapon, though, as stainless steel blades are generally too brittle for actual swordplay. As stage props, neither is sharpened. One of the first rules of stage action is “don’t hurt the actors.”

Something for Elsinore’s Chapel

Immediately after the play-within-the-play in Act III, Claudius retreats to Elsinore’s chapel in a probably vain attempt to convince himself that killing his brother and marrying his sister-in-law was the right, or at least justifiable thing to do. After sending Polonius off to spy on Hamlet’s conversation with his mother, the king ponders the question of his guilt before finally kneeling to pray. One piece of furniture we’ll be using on the stage is this rather nice Robert Smith oak gothic kneeler from Religious Supply Center, where Claudius can ask God to forgive him. Hamlet certainly won’t.

The Fatal Blade?

This is one of the four identical swords that will be used in the climactic duel in the final scene. While this is listed as an “epee” at Amazon.com, it actually has a schlager blade. As such, it is actually very similar to the type of weapon Hamlet would have been familiar with as an apparently perpetual student at Wittenberg. Formal, and generally non-lethal, dueling was quite common at German universities. Unlike the other prop swords, these are practical fencing weapons intended for actual use.

Crowns Are Handy for Royalty of All Types

A very simple, generic crown for the Player King. Itinerant actors didn’t have huge prop budgets.

The Queen gets something nicer, with lots of emeralds and diamonds in an antique gold setting.

For the King, something fairly simple yet elegant. The “fur” was added to make the crown show better from the audience, and it’s also more comfortable on the King’s shiny, bald head.

Jack Miller (Hamlet) and Devon Porter (Laertes) rehearsing the fight scene from Act V of Hamlet. This is still relatively early in the rehearsal process, so the two actors are moving a good bit slower than they will during an actual performance.

Columbus Arts Festival
Franklinton Theatre Stage

On June 12 & 13, most of the cast took part in presenting a 20 minute excerpt from Act III of Hamlet at the Columbus Arts Festival. The weather was a little “iffy” for both performances, and a few drops of rain fell on the second day, but all went well and the audience grew as the excerpt progressed on both days. The video is from the second day, and was taken by our director, Jai Furlong.