What can you say about Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare’s greatest work, translated to virtually every language and performed around the globe ever since its premiere at the turn of the (17th) century?
You can take a stab at describing it at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) in Madison, where it has landed through Nov. 15, 2026.
If you’ve never seen the play before, it is, as its name implies, the story of life in a sleepy little village upstate.
No, no, no. It’s about a Danish prince who sees a ghost. Or thinks he has. Something is rotten in Denmark!
(This play has so many famous lines that patrons should receive Bard Bingo cards along with their playbills.)
Hamlet’s late father, the king, is not happy. He’s been murdered by his brother, who hooked up with the queen before his body was cold. The departed monarch wants his son Hamlet to avenge these dastardly deeds.
And thus begins a journey that explores multiple layers of the human condition. Betrayal, revenge, doubt, madness, mortality, suicide, the very nature of consciousness — this onion has been peeled by countless critics yet never fails to yield new interpretations as times and tastes evolve.
The STNJ treatment has much to commend it. Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play, yet Artistic Director Brian B. Crowe keeps this tragedy moving with the same deft touch he applies to comedies.
Characters are constantly in motion, from the aisles, across the stage, appearing and disappearing from balconies and alcoves and trap doors. Swords clash and thunder crashes, all but blasting you from your seat, infusing the early action with foreboding. Bathed in spooky lighting, STNJ veteran Anthony Marble’s ghastly apparition adds to a macabre atmosphere ideal for Halloween viewing.
Amidst the theatrical tricks are some delicious treats: Marble, doing double duty, mines laughs as a gravedigger. And Andrew Sellon is hilarious as Polonius, the bloviating father of sweet Ophelia (Billie Wyatt) and noble Laertes (Ty Lane). After dispensing copious advice to his college-bound son, Polonius does what dads do: He fishes out his wallet.
Crowe sprinkles in other props that suggest parallels between the fictional court of Elsinore — a nest of spies — and modern government surveillance. The murderous new king, Claudius (Scott Wentworth) addresses his subjects through a 1930s-era microphone. Secret photographs are produced as evidence of skullduggery. A videographer lurks in the shadows.
But what of Hamlet, the role that leading actors of every generation — from John Wilkes Booth’s father to Sarah Bernhardt, from Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud to Kenneth Branagh and Mel Gibson, Keanu Reeves and Benedict Cumberbatch — lust to play?
Isaac Hickox-Young brings a restless, manic energy to the part. His delivery of the iconic “To be or not to be” soliloquy is neither ponderous nor dripping with emotion; rather it seems as if these existential thoughts suddenly occur to him, like his old man’s ghost, as he feigns madness to plot revenge against his uncle.
You feel for this prince, thrust into an impossible situation. A sea of troubles, indeed.
Regular patrons of STNJ will remember Hickox-Young’s performance opposite Wyatt in last year’s Romeo and Juliet. Their star-crossed chemistry was palpable.
I wasn’t as sure about Wyatt’s Ophelia — until Hamlet inadvertently kills Polonius, Ophelia’s father. Wyatt’s depiction of grief, descending into insanity, is profoundly moving. You could have heard a skull drop Friday as the opening night crowd absorbed the intense pain unfolding onstage.
Before his eavesdropping does him in, Polonius counsels his son: To thine own self be true. (BINGO!)
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey has heeded this advice, with an engaging Hamlet worthy of the troupe’s name.
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents Hamlet, directed by Brian B. Crowe, through Nov. 15, 2026, at the F.M. Kirby Theatre on the campus of Drew University, 36 Madison Ave., Madison. Tickets: Tickets: $45-$85. Recommended for ages 12 and older.
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