Abstract
After a 2020 theatrical season greatly impeded by Covid-19-related restrictions, U Teatrinu resumed its activities in 2021 by offering the Corsican public a ‘local’ Hamlet. If the storyline remains true to Shakespeare's tragedy, many liberties were taken by the director and playwright: the scene is set in contemporary Corsica; the protagonist is not the Prince of Denmark but a Northern Corsican Mafia baron; and ‘Hamlet’ becomes ‘Amlet’, the Corsican version of the name since this adaptation is mainly delivered in Corsican – French subtitles are projected onto the rear wall of the auditorium. Several other elements are modified to stage an insular Hamlet, such as the substitution of Winterberg with mainland France. Indeed, Claudiu intreats Amlet to not go to the mainland to mourn the loss of his father as it would sadden his mother. This scene, however anecdotal it may appear, does echo a reality on the island: many (young) Corsicans have to go there to continue their studies or find employment, which results in the separation of the family members.
The presence of a narrator (Jean Battì Fillipi) is notable: dressed in black, he periodically appears onstage in a chorus role in order to describe the scenes that would not be staged in this 90-minute show. The performance starts off with a summary of the main plot given by the narrator, with the other actors sat at three different tables, listening to him: Amlet has just committed suicide, but rumour has it that his brother, Claudiu, killed him in order to take his place and marry his widow, Ghertruda, who has become both Amlet's mother and aunt. Pierrick Tonelli – who will later perform Amlet – intervenes by saying that he is already lost: how can Amlet – the eponymous character – be dead when the play has not even started yet? This amusing dramatic misunderstanding that relies on namesakes (the father and the son have the same name) is explained by the narrator, who also concludes that Shakespeare probably wanted to confuse the spectators, which triggers laughter in the auditorium.
This exchange constitutes the first humorous element that is added to the Shakespearean plot; many more follow as director Guy Cimino wanted to emphasise the comic passages in Shakespeare's Hamlet as well as better highlight the dramatic scenes by creating new situations that induce laughter. The most remarkable one is probably Hamlet's famous soliloquy. While actors are often apprehensive of delivering the ‘To be or not to be’ speech in such a manner as would fully encapsulate and convey the existential crisis the character is going through, Cimino brilliantly turns this scene into a joyful feast of both food and languages. Holding a paperback edition of Hamlet, Amlet delivers the only English line in the performance: ‘To be or not to be, ay there's the point. To die, to sleep, is that all?’ While Claudiu (Jean-Pierre Giudicelli), Laerte (Sébastien Casalonga), and Pulloniu (Filippi) are sitting or standing upstage. Claudiu steps forwards and expresses his surprise to hear Amlet speaking in English; Laerte replies by claiming that it makes sense to perform Shakespeare's play in English. Claudiu jocularly retorts that he understands better Shakespeare's language when it is in Corsican, spurring Laerte to deliver the soliloquy in Corsican. Claudiu interrupts him and gives another version of the speech; Pulloniu argues that everybody knows this soliloquy. The audience witnesses a kind of rehearsal within the play: Claudiu, who does not remember a line, addresses Laerte by the actor's real name – Sébastien – to prompt him. Finally, Amlet petulantly reassumes control, by stating in French: ‘C’est mon soliloque! Hamlet, c’est moi!’
This instance is one of several tactics Cimino employs to blur the lines between the fictional play-world and the actors inhabiting it. He turns part-doubling on its head by signalling – in a subtle way – to the audience when it occurs: for instance, when Amlet discovers that Filippi's Pulloniu is eavesdropping on him and his mother, Amlet shoots him in the foot. Pulloniu shouts and complains about the pain, and Ghertruda (Misandra Fondacci, who also portrays Ofelia) tells him to stop since he is supposed to be dead. Later, the narrator (Filippi again) wonders how Laerte will react to the news that Amlet killed his father, and before leaving the stage, he tells the public that his foot still hurts, thereby pointing at his ‘double’ role in the performance.
While the metatheatrical scenes breathe freshness into well-trodden scenes, the production's most admirable aspect is its seamless ability to unveil the theatrical machinery, and then whisk the audience back into the plot in an instant. The change of lighting (from warm colours during uplifting scenes to cold colours for tragic ones) and of music (from festive melodies to dramatic sound effects) takes part in the alternation of the comic and dramatic scenes, and the easiness with which the actors go from a smile to tears succeeds in getting the spectators engaged. Revealing the theatrical illusion is also a way to lead the audience to reflect about their own status. When not ‘performing’, the actors occupy the onstage tables and take on roles as onlookers. Two body-length mirrors have also been placed on both sides of the stage, oriented in such a manner that the performers use them and the spectators see themselves.
Amlet sees the ghost of his father when he looks at the mirror, and the audience may also share in his struggle. If, as Ofelia declares, ‘Shakespeare's time is long gone’, this adaptation of Hamlet is a reminder of the timelessness of the themes of this play: life, death, joy, sorrow, love and revenge, the intertwining of which might be an invitation to ponder over societal problems. Cimino's adaptation of Hamlet is one that embraces vendetta as unavoidable in the world he has created for his Mediterranean audience. His narrator declares as much: ‘That's how it is in Corsica, people fight to fix problems. Fortunately, not all of us behave like that! Not all of us behave like that, but our world is that way’. While revealing a distressing reality, Cimino feels compelled to remind audiences that violence is perpetuated by a minority of individuals and that the islanders, even if they are surrounded by ‘tragedies’, should also enjoy laughter and self-deprecating humour.
The frequent presence of sand on stage may be a reminder of the shortness of life: while celebrating the marriage of Claudiu and Ghertruda, glasses are filled with sand, the very same sand that will later be empty out of Claudiu and Larte's glasses when they learn about Ofelia's death and that will also be found again in buckets during the graveyard scene, where two clowns get ready for the woman's funeral. More than perhaps a nod to Thomas Ostermeier's production of Hamlet (2011), this scene might also be seen as a memento mori, staging an element (sand) that can be both a source of life and death and which invites the spectators to make the best of their lives while they can.
With echoes of Ostermeier and Brecht, Cimino successfully weaves relevant local themes of violence and power into an entertaining and accessible Hamlet for a largely Corsican audience composed of students and the general public, while at the same time placing a spotlight on an endangered language worth preserving.