Dates for Hamlet conversation series: Hamlet Fault Lines

Discussions with cast members follow each Sunday matinee. In addition, some shows will feature panels with special guests to engage in a conversation on relevant themes or our unique artistic approach. Post-show conversations take place in the theater immediately following each Sunday matinee and last for approximately 25 minutes. Please join us!

Sunday, October 16, 2016 (2 pm performance)

Community Fault Lines

We have the unique privilege of performing Hamlet in The Church of the Covenant’s sanctuary. How does the church inform the play and the play inform the church? What themes in Hamlet speak to both theater audiences AND church communities today? Mortality, faith, the afterlife, race and racism, sexual repression, violence, ghosts … the list goes on. How do those communities engage with one another around those themes? Join Hamlet director Doug Lockwood, Church of the Covenant’s Reverend Julie Avis Rogers, and other invited guests as they examine how our roles as theatre-goers and church-goers overlap and diverge.

Sunday, October 23, 2016 (3 pm performance)

Family Fault Lines

Decay, disease, and corruption abound in Hamlet’s home and family. Join Shakespeare scholar and Salem State University professor Jeffrey Theis as he facilitates a discussion with members of the cast on these themes in Hamlet. What happens when growth and restoration are compromised as family members seek different desires?  Examine the family fault lines in the play through the lens of ecological and domestic decay.
Sunday, October 30, 2016 (3 pm performance)

Gender Fault Lines

Shakespeare is famous for playing with gender. While there are no cross-gender roles as written in Hamlet, there has been a great deal of conversation about the role of the masculine and the feminine in the play. What are the fault lines that exist between the gender roles and their social constructs in Hamlet? Shakespeare scholar Coppelia Kahn, Professor Emerita of English at Brown University, will share her thoughts, joined by cast members and the audience exploring masculine vs. feminine identity in Hamlet.

Sunday, November 6, 2016 (3 pm performance)

Psychic Fault Lines

Psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, author, and theatre/film consultant Phillip Freeman will facilitate a discussion with members of the cast on the psyches of Hamlet, Ophelia and other characters in the play. Are they experiencing a descent into madness, or are there greater forces at play?  Where is the line between one person’s reality and another person’s madness? Can psychic fault lines be healed?

Dates for the rest of the season’s post-show conversations