#PickoftheWeek| Queens Theatre presents thrilling, gender-bender version of Hamlet
BY QEDC It's In Queens
It’s a modern and oh-so-unique version of William Shakespeare’s longest play, which is also one of the most quoted and influential works of all time.
Titan Theatre Company will close its tenth anniversary season by presenting “Hamlet” a total of 10 times at Queens Theatre between Friday, March 29, and Sunday, April 14.
You know the lines. “There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark,” “To be or not to be,” and “To thine own self be true.”
Titan co-founder Laura Frye bends genders as the play’s namesake, a Danish prince who wiffles and waffles in anguish after his uncle kills his father and steals his throne. It’s old hat for Frye, who has recently flipped her pronouns and impersonated Iago in the troupe’s “Othello” and Marley in “A Christmas Carol.”
General admission is $20. Opening night is already sold out, but tickets are currently available for the other shows.
Probably written between 1599 and 1602, this tragedy dives into the psyche of a conflicted, cowardly prince in a world of deceit, treachery, and lust for power. Not only did Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, kill his father and steal his birthright, he also married his mother, Gertrude.
Add an encroaching Norwegian army, the repeated apparition of the ghost of Hamlet’s father, an apparent suicide, and another murder, and you got issues.
What would you do?
More murders, suicides, troop encroachment, and power plays, of course.
The schedule is March 29 and March 30 at 7:30 pm; March 31 at 4 pm; April 5 and April 6 at 7:30 pm; April 7 at 4 pm; April 11 and April 12 at 7:30 pm; and April 13 and April 14 at 4 pm.
In addition to Frye, the cast includes longtime Titan member Michael Selkirk as Claudius and guest artist Annalisa Loeffler, a classic theater specialist, as Gertrude. Another Titan founder, Lenny Banovez, is the director with help from Marcus D. Johnson.
Queens Theatre is located at 14 United Nations Ave. S. inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park. There’s a free parking lot nearby, and a free shuttle bus takes patrons to and from the 7 train’s Mets-Willets Point station.
Images: Titan Theatre Company