Hamlet

Directed by Derek Goldman, Georgetown University Department of Performing Arts’ production of Hamlet was a radical reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s iconic play. Reimagined inside a high-tech college classroom, characters struggle with the ‘digital dissonance’ of their everyday hectic lives and shift in and out of existence through their connection (both physical and metaphorical) with an ominous and omnipresent technological domain.

In my scenic design for the show, I sought to create contemporary spaces for this modern take on the narrative while still referencing the play’s historical roots. Using a combination of traditional and modern materials, the design consisted of a giant wooden conference table—which housed a graveyard pit in the middle—that are flanked by pillars of wood and steel, each of which housed HD plasma screens as well as iPad docks and headphone jacks. Video and projection work by Jared Mezzocchi and dramatic lighting by Harold F. Burgess II helped complement and complete the scenic environment.

 

 

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earlier designs (focusing on one large screen instead of multiple screens)hamlet_set

final proposed design

 

 

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The power of the scenic design by Swedian Lie hits us immediately; however its true brilliance unfolds throughout the play. The stage is dominated by a huge, wooden table with an opening inside, and nine big brown conference leather chairs spread around it. Four wide columns with in-built plasma screens and earphones attached, two on each side, frame the setting. The versatility of stage design, achieved through combination of the richness and timelessness of wood and leather with elements of technology and stainless steel, triggers multiple associations. We could easily imagine being in a space ship’s control room, as well as in the Camelot Castle with King Arthur and his knights about to appear. What follows during the performance exceeded my expectations and took my breath away. The table becomes a stage, its crevice – a tunnel to the underworld and a grave; the screens turn into sources of crucial information, images and signals; chairs are used to wheel away the dead. (DC Metro Theatre Arts)

 

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(Photos by Sarah Gormley)

 

 Hamlet Production Credits (2013):
DIRECTOR        Derek Goldman
CAST       Marlene Cox // Olivia Duff // Greg Keiser // Walter Kelly //
Nehemiah Markos // Katie Jane Morgan // Joe Napier // Ben Prout //
Jack Schmitt // Thomas Shuman // Joshua Street // Ed Walczak //
Alexandra Waldon // Addison Williams
STAGE MANAGER       Joey Blakely
SCENIC DESIGN       Swedian Lie
LIGHTING DESIGN       Harold F. Burgess II
SOUND DESIGN       James Bigbee Garver
COSTUME DESIGN       Debra Sivigny Kim
PROJECTION DESIGN        Jared Mezzocchi
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