Stepping Out

'Hamlet' revisited

Hofstra's annual Shakespeare Festival debuts its rebuilt stage

Posted

Shakespeare once wrote “all the world’s a stage,” but nowhere is there a more storied, genuine one than at Hofstra University. The school’s new Globe stage is a recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, and is being unveiled at its John Cranford Adams Playhouse this week, on March 2, when the 68th Annual Shakespeare Festival kicks off with a production of “Hamlet.”
“It’s absolutely stunning,” says Hamlet’s director Christopher Dippel, an assistant professor at Hofstra, of the Globe Stage and Hofstra Drama Professor David Henderson’s design. “[Henderson] studied in London, and got to look at original plans and things that many other scholars have not had a chance to look at, so it was quite an experience and he’s done an unbelievable job of trying to recreate Shakespeare’s stage.” A number of alumni came out to support the building of the new rostrum, doing everything from fundraising to painting.
The new Globe Stage is actually the university’s second reconstruction of the structure. The first was built in 1951 through the research of Hofstra’s third president and renowned Shakespeare scholar, Dr. John Cranford Adams. It was completed in time for the university’s second Shakespeare Festival and built in the campus gymnasium.
Later the stage was given a more permanent home in what is now known as the John Cranford Adams Playhouse. For many decades, the Shakespeare Festival was presented on this version of theGlobe, and featured many students who went on to success in the performing arts: Phil Rosenthal, Madeline Kahn, and Margaret Colin, to name a few.
Though Dippel, who resides in Merrick, has been teaching at Hofstra for over 15 years, “Hamlet” marks his first play on the main stage.

“I think Shakespeare’s plays deal with so many things that really get to the heart of humanity,” he says, of why it remains important to bring Shakespeare’s work to life. “His plays get to the questions that are always in existence, and that’s what’s so wonderful about them. You can read them so many times because they’re poetry, and you will find new things depending on where you are and how you’re looking at the world at any given moment. You can make new discoveries every time you read them.”
Dippel has been preparing this version of “Hamlet” for the past year, cutting the text down from its four-hour length and making unique choices as to how it is presented. The actors, all Hofstra students, will be performing with the house lights up; after all, Shakespeare’s plays would have been performed outdoors, in daylight. “Because the actors can see the audience, they can gauge where the audience is. People won’t just be peeping toms on what is happening in the play.”
Besides “Hamlet,” the festival will include the appearance of Hofstra alumnus Joe Morton, who is currently playing Eli Pope on ABC’s “Scandal.” On March 6 he’ll be discussing his performances in previous Hofstra Shakespeare Festivals, and his roles in classical theatre, television and film. On March 9 and 11, a one-hour adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” “This Bud of Love,” will be presented in the Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater. It will include a special concert with The Collegium Musicum, a Hofstra music ensemble dedicated to the performance of little-known music of the past, customarily called “early music.”
“What sets [Hofstra] apart from other festivals is the fact that we are truly focused on being an educational institution working on it,” says Dippel. “We’re dealing with Shakespeare from the perspective of students, who are also able to take on the roles of Shakespeare because we have an entirely student cast. We do student matinees. During the run we have several schools that apply to visit Hofstra, and they participate in improvisational workshops and vocal production for Shakespeare classes.”
High school students also spend the day on campus preparing scenes to perform in a competition. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for schools to come together, get a little bit of feedback, and meet each other and see other people who are really interested in Shakespeare and what he had to say.”
With so many different productions of Hamlet being mounted (including the recently announced Public Theater presentation starring Golden Globe nominee Oscar Isaac this summer), Dippel knew it was necessary to make his production unique.
“I cast the best actors for each role, so some women are playing male roles,” he says, excitedly. “In fact, a woman is playing Laertes, one of the most aggressive roles in the play.” Audiences will get to experience Elizabethan costumes on an Elizabethan set, which is practically non-existent. “The Globe doesn’t change, so it’s just people and space,” says Dippel. “However, the theatre becomes any place you want it to become, and it changes within a split second. They tell you in the dialogue where the change of location is; it’s a beautiful way to tell a story, to be able to trust an audience that they’ll go with you, rather than you have to hold their hand and take them places.”
The cast features Hofstra University students Samantha Kamelhar, of Merrick, as Horatio; Seaford’s Richie Dupkin in the roles of Guildenstern, Barnardo and a Gravedigger; Bellmore’s Justin Valentino as Polonius; and Baldwin’s Brandon
Dubuisson as a Sailor. 
Dippel says that he doesn’t want audiences to sit back and relax during Hamlet, passively receiving what is happening. Instead, he invites everyone to sit forward and engage in the play, and to become a part of it.
In the many decades that the festival has been running at Hofstra, Dippel notes that audiences respond honestly and positively, in part due to the tradition of the event. “People don’t have to travel anywhere to see it, because it’s right around the corner,” he says. “A lot of people take advantage of that, and because building the stage was such a communal effort, it has been really exciting. Festival-goers can’t help but take something away from it because of everybody they will interact with when they are there.”

Hofstra Shakespeare Festival
Hamlet: Thursday through Saturday, March 2-4, 8 p.m.; Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m. Also Friday through Sunday, March 10-12. $12, $10 seniors/students.
This Bud of Love: Thursday, March 9, 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 11, 2 p.m., with Collegium Musicum. $6.
John Cranford Adams Playhouse, South Campus, Hempstead. (516) 463-6644 or www.hofstratickets.com.