Michael Birch’s One Man Hamlet
Posted on | October 12, 2009 | No Comments
Running Oct 11, 18, 25, and Nov 1
@ Theater Under St. Mark’s
Directed by Bricken Sparacino
www.comedyperiod.com for more info
As half of the house band at Penny’s Open Mic, I’m there every week. I regularly see performances that are worthy, funny, impressive, charming, more than tolerable, engaging, etc. There are a few that are terrible. There are a few that have the raw stink of genius. Then there are a few that are just so impressive and up and over the scale of anything I’ve tried to do that there’s nothing you can do except be in awe, and be a witness, and hope you’re getting everything out of the performance. Hope your eyes are fast in focus and your brain quick. Michael Birch’s One Man Hamlet, which he has been workshopping seven minutes at a time at Penny’s for the last few months, and which debuted last night at the Theater Under St. Mark’s, is one such performance. It is not to be missed.
Speaking with a friend of mine after the show, the one thing we were both curious about is how something we’ve been seeing in seven-minute chunks would translate to a longer form. The answer: I was shocked for even thinking it in the first place. It’s HAMLET, by gods, after all. It’s meant to be experienced in one chunk. I found myself completely lost inside the play. The transitions between the characters were flawless; the voices (18 of them!) and the physical characteristics Michael Birch gives them are memorable and make the characters easily identifiable. The one thing I was worried about was being able to follow who was who over the course of the whole play. But I was never lost, never didn’t know what was going on.
In fact, I found myself thinking about the play in new ways. Finding new sympathies for characters and discovering subtleties I’d never thought about. To get particular, his performance of Act 3 Scene 1 (To be or not to be —> get thee to a nunnery) is so powerful and nuanced, people in the crowd gasped audibly at some of the lines. To think about people gasping, rapt, in the audience, at something so ubiquitous and seemingly familiar as Hamlet, in this day and age, is incredible. This is a testament to Birch’s performance, and the obvious love he has for the play and the characters.
One thing I think it is easy to forget about Shakespeare is that a lot of it is funny. And was supposed to be funny. There is so much natural humor in the words. When I took Shakespeare in high school this is one thing my teacher pounded into our heads. And there are a lot of laughs here. Look: at first glance, a one man Hamlet is a fairly ridiculous idea, visually, conceptually, etc. So it might be easy to play that up. But Birch, an extremely gifted actor, never has to ham or mug for the laughs. He lets the play do the work for him.
The play! HOLY FUCK PEOPLE – Not only did this man memorize the whole fucking Hamlet play, he internalized it, made it his own, made it OURS. But he was not alone. There was live music, evocative and very tastefully executed by Eric Chercover, and luckydave in the booth doing lights and sound, who added some really terrific flourishes, a standout scene being the Ghost’s speech to Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 5). Directed by Bricken Sparacino, the play is smooth, tight, and not only lives and breathes, but jumps into the crowd to hold you, whisper secrets in your ear, kill your brother, and bring down your kingdom.
Michael Birch’s One Man Hamlet is a singular event. A ferocious, driven, reverent performance; an astonishing delivery of a brilliant concept; a unique and important theater experience. Do yourself a favor and catch this while it is playing.
Tags: bricken sparacino > eric chercover > hamlet > luckydave > michael birch > one man hamlet > theater under st mark's
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