“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” –⁠Shakespeare, Hamlet

photo by Elizabeth Nichols

Hamlet

NYC 2013–2014 | National 2013–2019

written by William Shakespeare

directed by Eric Tucker

A company of four recreates Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in a production hailed as “invigorating,” “lively and brisk,” and “masterful” by critics. “Every member of Bedlam hears voices. Not of God and his saints, but of Shaw (who probably would have said that’s the same thing) and Shakespeare.”

Meet the cast

Creative

PRODUCTION HISTORY

2019

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

Montgomery, AL September 3–October 6, 2019 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

2018

Jersey City Theater Center, White Eagle Hall

Jersey City, NJ February 8–10, 2018

Glaize Studio Theatre, Shenandoah University

Winchester, VA February 15–17, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Duke Performances, Duke University

Durham, NC February 19–25, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Flynn Performing Arts Center

Burlington, VT February 28, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

2018 (cont.)

Wright Memorial Theater, Middlebury College

Middlebury, VT March 2–3, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Arts Emerson

Boston, MA March 7–25, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College

Easton, PA March 29–31, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

The Broad Stage

Santa Monica, CA April 5–15, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Campbell Hall, UCSB Arts & Lectures

Santa Barbara, CA April 20, 2018 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

2017

McCarter Theatre

Princeton, NJ January 13–February 12, 2017 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

2014

The Lynn Redgrave Theater Off Broadway

New York, NY November 9, 2013–March 9, 2014 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

2013

The Access Theater

New York, NY March 6–April 6, 2013 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Olney Theater Center

Olney, MD September 4–October 20, 2013 (in rep w/ Saint Joan)

Reviews

Praise for Bedlam's HAMLET

I left grinning, surprised that there was still ice on the streets. As far as I was concerned, the warmth and effervescence of what I had just witnessed had turned winter into springtime.

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

The Bedlam comany has staged a lively, modern and amiable production that feels brisk even at three and a half hours… Unlike those in so many contemporary Shakespeare productions, the actors here do not strain to get the audience to understand every line with little regard to the sound of the poetry—they speak the speech, to quote Hamlet.

The New York Times

Masterful… This juxtaposition of the comic and the tragic, coupled with the breathtaking talent of its actors, makes Bedlam’s HAMLET one of the richest, most entertaining theatrical experiences you may have this season.

Theatermania

Bedlam’s signature skill is capturing the soul of a classic, distilling it to its essence, and presenting it with vigor and immediacy… Tucker’s Hamlet epitomizes the ethos of Bedlam: he is frank, unsentimental, undeceived by fictions of theatricality, and yet expertly performed…As it did with SAINT JOAN, Bedlam again looks to a classic with neither irreverence nor dewy-eyed worship, but with critical and unrestrained eyes. In tiny confines, with a bare minimum of accoutrement, and the tirelessness of four expert performers, HAMLET comes alive, as Bedlam shows itself through its unique ability to find the essence of a classic and its characters to be an importantly innovative voice in New York theater.

Stage Magazine

This Hamlet could be renamed Everyman’s Hamlet. The actors who exert themselves here are altogether focused on the old myth, and make it sparkle in spite of its age. And, truth be told, they outdo those more pretentious companies who trip themselves up by staging Shakespeare with too much fuss and forget the play is the thing.

Curtain Up

Bedlam’s production is full of twists and turns like these that at times make the audience gasp with delight at the creativity of the cast’s choices…. Every member of the ensemble is so full of energy it is impossible not to be captivated by his or her every movement…. it is undeniably Eric Tucker’s portrayal of Hamlet that makes this production as powerful as it is. Tucker takes the character through a myriad of emotions, all while maintaining a sense of control that causes you to question how much of Hamlet’s eventual madness is real… Bedlam’s Hamlet is a rollercoaster of high-energy, emotional powerhouse performances that you don’t want to miss.

Theasy.com

Acted with sublime ferocity…An experience so intense and concentrated that you’ll feel as though you were part of the action—and it moves so fast that you’ll scarcely be conscious of the play’s extraordinary length.

Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal

For Bedlam, under Eric Tucker’s direction, the minimalism is a means to an end: the most fluid, most high-pressure, and most direct access to Elsinore possible. It’s as though centuries of maudlin costumes, overwrought sets, and bad English papers have vaporized to leave the real animal, in flesh and blood, to roam free. And it is a fiery beast. Nichols and O’Keefe, along with Ted Lewis and Tucker (as Hamlet), run breathlessly around the tiny stage of Access Theater, leaping into their many characters, tossing the necessary props, and churning out the verse as though possessed by the author’s demons. Gape too much at the performers’ virtuosity, though, and you’ll miss the direction, which is a lesson in choreographic detail. The placement of a hat, the rustling of backstage props, the sudden revelation that an overlooked corner is a performing space—each moment taps the story for extra ounces of nuance.

Backstage (Crititic’s Score: A)

An engaging, highly physical production of Shakespeare’s complex masterpiece that feels as raw and incestuous as the state of Denmark itself…At the center of the whirlwind is Eric Tucker’s seething, manic Hamlet…The remaining 20-plus roles are divided among Ted Lewis, Andrus Nichols and Tom O’Keefe, who transition effortlessly between characters…. There’s a fiendish precision behind the speed; hits land as swiftly and directly as sword blows.

Time Out New York (CRITICS’ PICK!)

From the instant the first line is uttered in the pitch-black theater to the moment the lights go down on a stage of corpses in the final act, Bedlam’s production of Hamlet never fails to be one of the most thrilling theatrical experiences to come along in recent memory. The audience is sucked into the protagonist’s world of madness and betrayal with no hope of escape… The fast pacing and constant action, punctuated by dozens of Shakespeare’s most famous lines and speeches, ensure that audiences will come out of this play thinking of nothing but the next time they’ll be able to see it again. Bedlam’s Hamlet is a production and an experience that should not be missed.

Washington Square News