All men may be created equal but not all Shakespeare, especially when it’s produced by the Aquila Theatre Company. The New York City-based troupe will bring its innovative take on Williams Shakespeare’s 400-year-old tragedy “Hamlet” to Sweet Briar College at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 6, in Murchison Lane Auditorium in Babcock Fine Arts Center.

Sweet Briar audiences are no strangers to the bard’s works, having enjoyed “Macbeth” last fall, and Aquila has appeared at the College several times, performing “Othello” and “Julius Caesar” and other non-Shakespearean plays.

Aquila’s style is alternately “hip” and “traditional,” said Bill Kershner, SBC theater professor. “They are extremely well trained, and often very innovative in their staging, making heavy use of music and dance in their performances. They have a very high reputation in New York, and they are always worth watching.”

The New York Times hails Aquila as “an extraordinarily inventive and disciplined outfit,” who “makes Shakespeare perfectly comprehensible.” To accomplish this, the company slimmed down the production, deleting some characters, and combining others. For instance, the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – portrayed as college frat boys – are significantly reduced. In the same vein, some scenes have been condensed or eliminated altogether. All of this maneuvering results in a show that runs two hours and change, which is more in line with the expectations of modern audiences.

Directed by Robert Richmond, this tale of love, family conflict and revenge begins when the Hamlet is away at college. He receives word that his father, the King of Denmark, has died suddenly and to make matters worse, his mother, Queen Gertrude, promptly married his Uncle Claudius.

Seething with grief and anger, Hamlet returns to Denmark where he is haunted by the ghost of his father and becomes possessed with the idea that his patriarch was murdered by his uncle/stepfather. This, along with his mother’s disloyalty, compels Hamlet to avenge his father’s murder, which doesn’t go quite as planned.

Instead of exacting revenge on only the alleged guilty parties, Hamlet’s scheme results in the accidental death of his girlfriend Ophelia’s father, her subsequent suicide, and a sword fight that puts a bloody end to Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude and Ophelia’s brother Laertes.

“Arguably, there is no greater play ever written,” Kershner said. “If you have ever wanted to see this play done by professionals without having to travel to another city, this is your chance.”

Aquila Theatre Company is managed by Baylin Artists Management Inc., and their performance is funded in part by a grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Tickets for “Hamlet” go on sale Monday, Feb. 20, at the Sweet Briar College box office, in the front lobby of the Babcock Fine Arts Center. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for non-SBC students, and free for SBC staff, faculty, students, alumnae and children younger than 12.

For reservations and more information, call (434) 381-6120.


— By Suzanne Ramsey, SBC staff writer