HAMLET From Peru's Teatro La Plaza To Have NYC Premiere This July At PS21

Hamlet, will be reimagined by Chela De Ferrari, founding artistic director of Peru's Teatro La Plaza, who adapts Shakespeare's classic for a group of young actors with Down syndrome at PS21, July 19 & 20.

The show will be presented In Spanish with English subtitles at PS21 Pavilion Theater. Tickets: $35, $15 (students).

Expressing the dashed hopes and disappointments of people whose lives are dismissed and ignored in a world ruled by unattainable standards of productivity and beauty.  Interweaving their own stories with the original text to invest in new meaning in the play's central existential question, “To be or not to be?” Jaime Cruz, who plays Hamlet, steps outside the role to reveal that it's as difficult to be Jaime as it is to be the Prince of Denmark. When Hamlet urges Ophelia to “Get thee to a nunnery,” it is to avoid having children who, like them, are afflicted with Down syndrome. The two copies of the chromosome that causes Down syndrome have irreversibly altered these actors' lives; they are acutely aware that, like Hamlet's, their lives may be cut short and that their brief time on the stage may be their one chance to dream.  

Teatro La Plaza's Hamlet blends personal monologues, classical drama, pop music, dance, and wry humor: In one scene, Jaime calls Ian McKellen on Zoom with questions about how to prepare for the title role; in another, he rehearses the famous soliloquy with Lawrence Olivier's classic Hamlet projected on a screen behind him. Like Shakespeare's original, Chela De Ferrari's incisive adaptation balances comedy and tragedy, never losing sight of the disturbing  questions about inclusion and discrimination, confronting us with questions about our own perceptions and values, in a production that is a joyous celebration of life and theater in all forms. 

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