This ‘Hamlet’ offers more questions than answers

I can’t offer a prize, but if a reader can answer these questions about the Insurgo Theater’s current production of “Hamlet,” I will be very grateful.

Why, in this three-and-a-half hour production (with two brief intermissions), is the show lit so that we can’t see any of the actors’ faces until maybe halfway through the first act? If this is to suggest some sort of dream vision, is it wrong for an audience to want to see faces anyway?

Since Hamlet is played by a woman (Latrina Larsen), what does it mean when “he” kisses Horatio (Brandon McLeanahan), Hamlet’s friend, long and hard on the lips? Is this a woman or a man kissing Horatio? Does the scene mean Hamlet is homosexual, or just so nuts that he’ll kiss anybody? Does he reject fiancee Ophelia (Katrina Morris) because he really wants to marry Horatio? Or are we supposed to be so hip that we don’t ask these questions?

Why does Hamlet kiss his uncle (Erik Amblad) long and hard on the lips? And was he really sexually straddling his mother, Gertrude (Tressa Bern)? Or was that just me not being able to see again?

Why is there a drawn-out explicit sex scene (with clothes on, however, which is another question) between the uncle and Gertrude? Is this to show us that they are perverts? Or is it just to make clear that the married couple are having sex? Why does the uncle smirk so much? And why is Gertrude dressed like a “Rocky Horror” witch? Is this the director’s way of letting us know they’re both bad people? Why does Gertrude defy her husband in the end? Or better yet, what is Gertrude and her husband’s relationship all about? Or best yet, what are all the relationships in the show about?

Why do Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz (Sean Critchfield) and Guildenstern (Johnny Miles), talk so weird and fall down so much? Are they comics? Actors? Off-the-wagon alcoholics?

Why does Hamlet spit out dialogue like a spiteful teenager spewing forth temper tantrums?

What does director John Beane hope to accomplish with this production? Is he telling a realistic story? Is he deconstructing a classic? Is he just having fun with random images?

Any insights from anyone who’s been there and survived will be appreciated.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.