Celebrate the Launch of HAMLET: AN EXPLORATION, Coming to 13th Street Rep This Summer

Nine Theatricals in association with Engine Productions present HAMLET - an exploration, opening this July at the 13th Street Repertory Theater. A special launch party will be held on Monday, April 25, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at The Jim Kempner Fine Art Gallery, 501 West 23rd Street, NYC.

For reservations, contact Jay Michaels Arts & Entertainment at 646-338-5472 or jay.michaels.theatricals@gmail.com.

Join this special gathering to celebrate the premiere of one of the most unique productions of HAMLET in decades. Meet the company and learn about this new vision of the play.

HAMLET is quite possibly the most widely-known play of William Shakespeare - more films, more adaptations, more versions, more references, than any other. But did you know Shakespeare's play itself was a version of an older story? This new version features excerpts from numerous older texts said to be what the author used as inspiration.

The killing of one's brother for personal gain is one of the earliest Biblical stories. The use of vengeance for such a deed is also biblical. What might not be known is that the idea of feigning madness to seek out the killer is also an ancient theme. Works that served as fodder for HAMLET date as far back as the Romans and the Vikings and as near as one of Shakespeare's own competitors (two versions by Thomas Kyd date to just a few years before the Bard).

Matt de Rogatis and Jay Michaels have compiled elements of these other versions - including the Scandinavian concept of a narrator sharing details as if the tale was far too old to be truly depicted without one - into a version opening this summer at 13th Street Repertory.

HAMLET: An Exploration tells the story of HAMLET but it also manages to tell the story of Hroðulf from the late 5th century and the 6th century; Amlóði from the 12th century; Ur-HAMLET and Heronimo from the early renaissance. While it has become a tradition that the play is done with modern dress more often that classical, this production takes that a step forward and backward. Costumes are a mixture of all eras creating an unplanned "steampunk" look. This version creates a fascinating cacophony of theories - from the idea of the man and the warrior; to addiction and self-abuse; to love and lust and how bisexuality, BDSM, marriage of convenience, have endured regardless of social mores and religious beliefs.

When the smoke clears, this is a HAMLET not yet done, using elements of the HAMLETs, rarely - or never - done. This production explores the mind not of HAMLET but of the parable for which it emerged.