Playing Hamlet Roulette

Drama. Literary Nonfiction. In the hit 2016 Shotgun Players production of Hamlet, seven actors learned all the roles. Each night, in front of the audience, they drew from Yorick's skull the characters they would play, then had five minutes to get ready before show time. PLAYING HAMLET ROULETTE explores what eventually emerged as the production's true subjects: failure, expectation, possibility, and democracy. In these pages, the production's director, actors, designers, and audience explore the wide ranging implications of these subjects both in and out of theatre. How might a critical consideration of creative experiences with failure expand our expectations of what is possible in our democratic societies? Theatre makers, goers, students, and teachers alike will enjoy the book for its exploration of rehearsal processes and of the impact theatre performances can have on audiences, as well as its uniquely poly-vocal analysis of Shakespeare's play, Hamlet.

A mind- bending new production... Refreshing... The actors' ability to pull off this Hamlet is simply awe-inspiring. And the format makes you examine your preconceptions of both the play and the nature of theater: All lines of gender, age and race will be crossed at some point.--San Francisco Chronicle

Uplifting and weirdly affecting... You immediately notice that there isn't a conventional Hamlet in the cast. They are a wonderfully eclectic bunch: men and women, a smattering of ages and races, even different acting styles... We are plunged into a democracy of infinite possibilities... A unique and rich response to the play... We should be thankful to witness such a circus of daring.--KQED.org

By opening up Hamlet to thousands of possible casting combinations, Jackson inevitably defies traditional assumptions about the gender, age and race of the play's well-known characters... This spontaneous diversity seizes upon the universality of Shakespeare's work in a way that many other productions fail to--fully revealing the kernels of common humanity within each character... An exhilarating journey, and one that manages to stoke the audience's appreciation for the very mechanics of theater while its powerhouse cast brings new vitality--and vigor--to a well-known play.--East Bay Express