Bernhardt/Hamlet

Bernhardt/Hamlet

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

In Bernhardt/Hamlet playwright Theresa Rebeck debates the power of women to transcend societal expectation.  The play portrays the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt as she takes on the monumental role of Hamlet.  She is the first woman to take on this role.  Since the men around her are unable to picture it, they are therefore incapable of supporting her in her quest.  Ms. Rebeck weaves the poetic texts of William Shakespeare and Edmond Rostand into her well-crafted play.  Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel explores the classically stylistic recitations of the period and allows them to evolve into deep, meaningful moments of discovery for the characters and the audience. 

The year is 1897.  In Paris the great Sarah Bernhardt (played by Janet McTeer) is rehearsing the role of Hamlet.  She is struggling with the character’s inability to take action amid Shakespeare’s lengthy and poetic soliloquies.  When her lover, Edmond Rostand (played by Jason Butler Harner), returns after working on his new play, they discuss her taking on this colossal project.  No one, including theatre critic Louis (played by Paxton Whitehead) thinks it is a good idea.  Alphonse Mucha (played by Matthew Saldivar), the artist who paints all her theatre posters, struggles to find the proper perspective for her portrait.  Sarah is determined to make Hamlet her own, which includes having Rostand rewrite it for her.

Dylan Baker, Janet McTeer, & Jason Butler Harner
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Cmpany

Janet McTeer captures a poetic panache and egotistical command that grounds her embodiment of Sarah Bernhardt.  As she struggles to find the essence of Hamlet, Sarah waivers in indecision.  This causes the same incapacity to take action that Hamlet suffers from.  Ms. Rebeck skillfully draws this parallel between the true Sarah Bernhardt and fictional Hamlet.  Ms. McTeer plays this quandary perfectly.  As Sarah Bernhardt speaks passionately about what she wants to achieve in the role of Hamlet, her doubts rise to the surface making the rehearsal process slow and laborious.  Ms. McTeer has scenes where she technically recites Shakespeare’s lines, then brilliantly sinks into a rhythm that unearths the soul of Hamlet.  These scenes ring with truth and discovery.

Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet

A woman taking on this classic role written for a man is seen as preposterous in Sarah Bernhardt’s time.  This judgement is juxtaposed with the fact that Shakespeare’s women were traditionally played by men.  Not only that, but many of Shakespeare’s female characters disguised themselves as men to achieve objectives they were unable to even attempt as women.  As all of this historic and literary fact is debated in this play, the male characters reveal their honest thoughts of what they expect when they contemplate a woman, especially one as strong as Sarah Bernhardt.  While projecting these expectations, they define her power, consequently confining her with limitation.  Sarah Bernhardt’s journey of surpassing these expectations is fascinating.  In this play, as in Shakespeare’s works where women disguise themselves as men, the characters who take the boldest and bravest action to achieve their desired outcome are the women. 

This Roundabout Theatre Company production is as grand as the legend herself.  Set design by Beowulf Boritt is lush and full of significant detail that grabs the audience’s attention and draws them into the time period.  The performances from the stellar cast of eleven are intelligent and truthful.  Bernhardt/Hamlet is playing at the American Airlines Theatre through November 11.

Domenick Danza