LOUISVILLE, Ky. – “Hamlet,” by William Shakespeare, will receive a unique treatment by director Rinda Frye in the next production of the University of Louisville’s Department of Theatre Arts.
The play will be performed Oct. 29-Nov. 2 and Nov. 5 – 9 at 8 p.m. nightly, Wednesdays through Saturdays, and 3 p.m. matinees on Sundays. All performances will take place at the Thrust Theatre at 2314 S. Floyd Street.
Frye, associate professor of theatre arts, brings a deep background in the plays of Shakespeare. Author of “William Poel’s Hamlets: the Director as Critic” and Shakespearean scholar, Frye combines action and dialogue from several historic versions to include scenes that are rarely seen on modern stages.
“It’s always a treat to work on one of the great plays and to engage with one of the greatest artistic minds of all times,” Frye said. “I vision Hamlet as a man of action rather than the depressive aesthete made popular in 19th century productions.”
The production bases the arrangement of action on Frye’s research as to what the original performances may have been in Shakespeare’s time.
“I am once again impressed on how modern the play seems,” Frye said. “The selfishness, greed and lack of foresight of the older generation in the play seems torn from today’s corporate scandals, making the waste and destruction of the youth and hope of this society all the more poignant.”
Show tickets are $12 for the general public and $8 for faculty, staff, students and senior citizens. For tickets and information, call 502-852-6814 or visit louisville.edu/a-s/ta/.
For more information regarding the preparation and production of “Hamlet,” call Frye at 852-8445.