In 2006, Swedish author Irena Kraus made an adaptation of Hamlet for children and young people. What this sort of adaptation actually implies, is debatable: is it that young people nowadays don’t want to read classics so they need an intelligently adapted Facebook version, that is, if someone wants to direct Hamlet, why not stage it in its original version with only conceptual accent on segments connected to the main character’s age, that is, of someone wants to write about growing-up, why not simply write a play on that topic…

By Slobodan Obradović

Directed by Anja Suša
Cast: Petar Benčina, Maša Dakić, Vladica Milosavljević…

The famous dilemma “to be or not to be” has been shown in many versions (even comic ones), and in 2006, Swedish author Irena Kraus made an adaptation of Hamlet for children and young people. What this sort of adaptation actually implies, is debatable: is it that young people nowadays don’t want to read classics so they need an intelligently adapted Facebook version, that is, if someone wants to direct Hamlet, why not stage it in its original version with only conceptual accent on segments connected to the main character’s age, that is, if someone wants to write about growing-up, why not simply write a play on that topic, etc. Be it as it may, Irena Kraus has reached the status of an expert when it comes to “adaptations” of classic for adolescents, owing to the fact that she has done it successfully with Verdi’s Rigoletto and Wedekind’s Spring Awakening.

In the process of re-writing the Shakespeare’s tragedy, the writer has made numerous dramaturgical reductions (leaving out the Gravediggers, Fortinbras, Gildenstern and Rosencrantz…) in order to keep the focus on the fear of growing up, of taking responsibilities and accepting duties. This approach has proved to be the right one – although the Danish prince from the original is not a teen, his rebellion against everything can be the exact image of a teenager trapped between the world of childhood and the world of adults. Both of those dimensions are combined into a harmonious whole by Igor Gostuški’s music which sets the general atmosphere but also helps to convey more precise meanings which arise from dramatic actions, while it reaches its climax through the emotional song of Ophelia’s madness/suicide, which is also the most exciting moment of the performance.

Petar Benčina plays Hamlet in neither melancholic nor resigned manner – he is “sucked into” his own existentialist situation in a teenage-like manner, while his communication with Ophelia (Maša Dakić) clearly depicts love-hate relationship between two young people who have known and loved each other since their early childhood. Their surrounding is both hilarious and frightening. The grotesque impression is additionally emphasised by two Masters of Ceremony and transvestites (played by Milan Pajić and Milan Tankosić) whose appearances demonstrate the demons which equally disturb all the protagonists (regardless of their sex or age), as well as by tragicomically presented neurosis of Gertrude (by Vladica Milosavljević) who obediently keeps fetching the Frisbee thrown by Claudius (played by Mladen Andrejević). These elements fail to add a new dimension to this modern reading of Hamlet and get worn out through witty repartees and parody (without any comprehensible psychological motifs).

The same goes for the inconsistency which becomes manifest through placing the actors among the audience (and letting them passively observe the play when they are not on stage themselves), and for an undefined attitude, of the author in the first place, towards political, ethical and philosophical issues raised by the Shakespeare’s play. However, none of these flaws harm the dynamic theatre mechanism. It never actually strives to stick a finger in the eye. The fact that it addresses young audience in a language they understand is sufficient enough.