Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Audiences attending the Merely Players’ upcoming production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” will not only hear this line uttered, but also feel it emanating from the set itself.
Having lugged lumber and rigged up lights on the Merely tech team since 2018, I know this theater’s capacity to dazzle audiences with world-building. But in “Hamlet,” viewers should be prepared to interact with a stage that is as alive, alert and scheming as any of the actors engaged in soliloquy or sword battle. However, viewers may struggle to pinpoint the subtle yet deliberate design elements triggering that slippery, queasy, prickly sense of unease. What follows is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into set design.
Straight away, viewers may note the austere, sleek and streamlined ambiance of a contemporary Elsinore Castle. Pristine and gleaming, the castle could almost be mistaken for a modern art museum. And yet, the set is somehow unsettling.
Notice how surfaces in Elsinore maybe gleam too much; they are not just clean, but sterile. As sterile as a crime scene the killer has mopped clear. Maybe its décor is a little too sparse – not just luxuriously spacious, but notable in its nothingness. As in nothing to see here, folks!
Certainly, nothing is as it appears in Elsinore. For instance, it appears at the beginning of the play that King Hamlet has died. His brother, Claudius, has assumed the crown and graciously consoled the widowed queen by marrying her. But then, to the king’s son, Hamlet, something else appears: a ghost. The spirit claims to be the ghost of his father, whom Claudius murdered. Kill your uncle and avenge my death, the apparition commands the young prince.
Hamlet is simultaneously enraged and skeptical. Like anyone who sees realistic yet fake AI-generated content, Hamlet questions the reality and authenticity of this encounter. Was it his father’s ghost ... or a demon ... or a hallucination? Whom can he trust if he cannot even trust his own eyes? In moments of crisis, one often needs to step back, zoom out, take in a larger perspective, but again, the set totally thwarts this impulse. Elsinore, as designed by Tech Director Charles Ford and assembled by a host of technicians and volunteers, is far too large to escape – either for Hamlet or the audience. In our intimate space, its sheer size and scale seem to swallow everyone whole.
And like willing accomplices, over 100 stage lights will intensify Elsinore’s eerie aspects. They will cast illusions. They will illuminate ghosts. They may even drown the innocent in a river that spills itself directly at the audience’s feet. Pay attention to the lights cutting across the darkness to slice away any lingering bonds between Hamlet and his alleged loved ones.
In the coming weeks, we on the set crew will scurry to slather paint on walls and spider the ceilings and crevices with cables. And though this be madness, perhaps now you see there is method in it.
Jenny Mason, a children’s author and local writer-for-hire, is a technical assistant for Merely Players. “Hamlet” runs Oct. 3 to 12. Tickets are sold out, but there is a wait list at www.merelyplayers.org.
