One-man Hamlet a rich experience

As the name, Hamlet {Solo} suggests, the premise is simple: one actor, Shakespeare’s text, no costumes, no props and no special lighting effects.

Hamlet, after all, is the ideal flawed character every thespian yearns to perform. And the Bard stacked his famous tragedy with a salivating plot that includes murder, suicide, a restless ghost, incestuous relationships and a deadly swordfight.

Would a one-man show without the spectacle come across as a workshop rehearsal or could Raoul Bhaneja deliver a passionate theatrical experience?

The answer is yes to the latter.

Dressed in black and performing against a black curtain at St. Albert’s Arden Theatre last Friday, Bhaneja bounded onto the stage and issued a brief instruction “lights.”

Initially I wondered if this was just a vanity project and I deliberately distanced myself from the action.

But there was nothing self-aggrandizing about Bhaneja’s performance. Once the solo novelty wore off, each of the 17 characters was fully formed. Every voice was distinctive, every pose and gesture an insight into their personality.

In a matter of minutes we settled into the dark plot at Denmark’s Elsinore Castle where nightly ghost sightings terrify soldiers at their posts.

Bhaneja had an enormous verbal and physical job and he didn’t linger over a clever turn of the phrase. Almost within the blink of an eye, his rapid-fire delivery morphed from character to character often distinguished by classical and comic poses.

For instance, Hamlet rants and shouts. As his introspection and thirst for revenge grows, he frantically runs around the stage with face in hands.

The smug King Claudius, on the other hand, distinguishes himself with a more patronizing, upper crust British intonation. The preachy Polonius (the best I’ve seen) is comically inflexible and pompous with a shuffling gait and bent back.

Bhaneja finds charming idiosyncrasies in all his male parts. However, the two women, Ophelia and Queen Gertrude, are weaker personalities. In particular, Ophelia, a simpering shrinking violet, has a squeaky voice and shy clasping hands that make you wonder why Hamlet was ever attracted to her.

There were a few times I was unsure which character was speaking. However, by and large, director Robert Ross Parker has mapped out enough signposts to keep the audience navigating the right highway.

About two hours was chopped off the original four-hour script. Fortinbras’ invasion on Denmark to right the moral corruption of its rulers was cut. This cut softened the political stakes, but in no way intruded on family dynamics.

Not only was Bhaneja able to transform Shakespeare’s rich imagery into conversational language, but he also tapped into the richness of human emotion and experience.

It was a shame only about 100 tickets were sold.