Art House Productions in Jersey City presents an unconventional but still powerful ‘Hamlet’
“To be, or not to be” may still be the question. But in Art House Productions’ unconventional retelling of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” running through Oct. 26 in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, it is not Hamlet who asks it.
Having another character deliver the tragedy’s most iconic soliloquy is just one of the many creative liberties director C. Rashee Stevenson takes in this innovative production. The staging blurs lines of gender, race and era, even weaving in text from Jean Genet and Federico García Lorca. While the story remains rooted in Elsinore Castle, Denmark, and retains the original language, the visual world is distinctly modern. The set pieces are reminiscent of an IKEA catalog, and the cast’s costumes evoke the casual, eclectic energy of comedians at a Comedy Store improv night.