Hamlet 50/50

Patrice Francis as Queen Gertrude, T-Day as Hamlet, and Julian Reid as the Ghost 

Hamlet 50/50 kicked off on Tuesday September 24, playing to a student audience. On Wednesday September 25, it opened to the public.

It was a roaring success—so much so that the theatre was packed on closing night!

With T-Day shouldering the role of Hamlet, supported by Jovanna Hepburn as Lady Horatio, Patrice Francis as Queen Gertrude and Danielle Fields as Ophelia, Sarah Burnett’s cut of Hamlet 50/50 sped through the evening, moving from crisis to crisis and foregrounding not only the melancholy Prince of Denmark but also his friends and courtiers.

Our production was stripped down in more ways than one. Casting issues led us to combine the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into a single character, Guildencrantz. There were two Players only, the Player King and the Player Queen, and they had so few words they needed no instruction on how to speak the speech.

The cast of Hamlet 50/50 with Peter and Vanessa

In the second week, the writers of Hamlet 50/50 joined us. Vanessa Morosco and Peter Simon Hilton couldn’t be more enthusiastic, supportive, and generous individuals, and we were honoured to host them. Their time with us began with a visit to the University to meet with some English students to talk about the 50/50 vision. Then we went to dinner with Sarah, the director, and some others. On Thursday they attended the Hamlet 50/50 matinee and on Friday, they came to the closing night of the show.

In all, we were stoked with our production of Hamlet 50/50. From the poster image, created by Julia Ames, to our closing production, we are so happy we took it on!