Classical Theatre Company to Open 2013-14 Season with HAMLET, 9/11-29

The Classical Theatre Company's (CTC) first production of the 2013-2014 season will be Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The production runs three weeks from September 11th- September 29th 2013 at the Barnevelder Arts Complex - 2201 Preston Street.

When you think of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, computer specialist and whistleblower Eric Snowden is probably not the first association to come to mind. If you are not familiar with Mr. Snowden, he is known for leaking CIA and NSA details of several top-secret United States government mass surveillance programs to the press. The government is recording and monitoring US citizens' phone and internet use. Snowden has used inside intelligence from his job to alert the public to this debatably unconstitutional surveillance.

The story of Hamlet unfolds under a bureaucracy similarly ridden with spies. Hamlet's school friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are paid off to watch his every move, in an infamous scene Hamlet kills Polonius who is eavesdropping behind a curtain, and even Ophelia, who loves Hamlet, aids in his surveillance. The US government today provides an eerily similar backdrop of espionage for a Hamlet placed in a modern day setting.

Correspondingly analogous are the characters of Eric Snowden and Hamlet. What is most interesting about Eric Snowden is not what he has done, but rather, how we as the public think about and label him. Mr. Snowden as being described as a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a traitor, and a patriot. Snowden presents us with a problem. We don't know how to feel about him. The title character in Hamlet is much the same. He is the protagonist but is he a hero? We inwardly applaud Hamlet for revenging the murder of his father but by the time Shakespeare's masterpiece and most famous play has run its course, Hamlet has murdered or indirectly caused the death of nearly all the characters in the play including his mother, his best friends, and his love interest.

"Hamlet is an incredibly complex character. His plight and subsequent conversations with the audience help bring us on to his side. His methods and results, though, create some problems. Is he a true hero? Or is he really a villain? It's a question worth asking, and it's one that we wrestle with in this production. This play and its main character are anything but simple," says Executive Artistic Director John Johnston.

All of us deal with questions of right and wrong. And just as in life, in this play it can be difficult to determine who is the good guy and who is the bad.

Living up to the mission of Boldly Re-Envisioning Classical Drama the Classical Theatre Company plans to make this time-honored classic relevant to the social issues of today's Snowden controversy.

TICKETS: Students and Industry $10, Seniors $ 15
General Admission $20
Available online at www.classicaltheatre.org/tickets

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