Theatre @ York launches its 2014-15 season with Heiner Müller’s post-modern drama Hamletmachine, directed by Department of Theatre Professor Paul Lampert. The play debuts Nov. 9 and runs until Nov. 14 at the Joseph E. Green Studio Theatre in the Centre for Film and Theatre on York’s Keele campus.
Müller (1929-1995), one of East Germany’s most important dramatists, actively supported his country’s Communist rule — until his plays were censored by the government he had dedicated himself to supporting. His 1977 play Hamletmachine, loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is an exploration of anarchy, freedom and violence, relating the characters of the classic play to the social unrest present in the contemporary world.
Lampert and his students from the Department of Theatre’s fourth-year Acting Conservatory have adapted Müller’s nine-page script into a full-length show. Theatre @ York’s production of Hamletmachine explores revolutions and rebellions from the 1960s to the 2000s, from the assassination of JFK to the attacks of 9/11.
Are there points in our lives when we are Hamlet, raging against the machine that we’re part of? What prompts these rebellions? How do we find identity through rebelling?
Costume design is by Taneisha McAdam, set design by Hayley Pace, lighting design by Katie Powe, sound design by Jason Thomson and the projection design by Brad Trenaman, all are students in York University’s Theatre Production program.
The set of Theatre @ York’s new production, ‘Hamletmachine’.
The play previews Sunday, Nov. 9 and Monday, Nov. 10 at 7:30pm. Performances run from Tuesday, Nov. 11 through Friday, Nov. 14 at 7:30pm nightly, with matinee performances on Friday at 1pm and Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2pm.
For information on ticket pricing and availability, contact the Box Office online or by calling 416-736-5888