MADC’s The Hamlet Trilogy opened at their historic rooms in St Venera (the club’s home since 1957) last weekend, to an audience ready for some fun.
The performance was fast-paced and the actors made good use of the funny, innuendo-laden lines- Peter Farrugia
The performance was developed through a series of workshops, designed to give new and aspiring actors a glimpse into the world of theatre in Malta and provide hands-on experience of all the work involved.
Directed by Chris Hudson, the show was made up of three one-act plays (written by Nick Warburton) linked together by a continuous narrative.
The story is about an amateur theatre company’s hilarious struggle to get through a weekend production of Ham-let – with decidedly unexpected consequences.
The trilogy opens backstage on a chaotic rehearsal, as crew members desperately try to pull things together before the premiere.
This is followed by a botched May-December romance be-tween a clueless young ac-tress and a lewd older actor, while the final play presents the post-production party and the crew and cast’s ridiculous hijinks (involving an antique globe and several dozen bridge rolls).
Generally, the performance was fast-paced and the actors made good use of the funny, innuendo-laden lines.
The scenes alternated between a controlled, crowded madness and quieter moments where individual actors were allowed to shine (or not) on their own merits.
There were certain places where the whole thing came together, thanks to a couple of performers who were able to negotiate the action and bring the best out of others on stage.
It all had a very cartoony quality, with the actors poking fun at themselves and bringing the audience along for a laugh.
Joe Depasquale as Gerry (an irritable and domineering stage manager) presented one of the highlight performances of the show.
Larger than life, he thundered around the stage and was especially funny when confronted by his nemesis, the passive aggressive director, Kate (played by Steffi Thake).
Thake gave as good as she got, and is fast proving herself a capable comedienne. She was especially good in her snarky interactions with Depasquale.
Among various crew members the funniest were Aleksandra Radulovic in her role as the bespectacled Patsy, a hard- done-by woman who’s the constant focus for Gerry’s rage, and Jess Camilleri as Gill, whose time on stage was spent flitting around in a ditzy delirium that played well alongside the fuming Gerry and flustered Patsy.
Beryl Fenech as Alice (yet another crew member) had plenty of funny lines and could have pulled off a power-house performance, but the faltering delivery detracted considerably from her presence on stage.
Maria Cristina Caruana was good in her role as an aspiring actress about to play Ophelia. She supplied the right kind of energy in her scenes with John Fenech, who played a lecherous older actor named Eric.
Fenech’s effort had its moments, but was distracted all too frequently by meandering off-script, lapses in timing and a characterisation that occasionally veered into the bizarre. His time opposite Caruana worked when the tension was controlled, and kept upbeat.
Considering what the performance set out to be, it worked well - combining a quick-witted script with the fresh talent of actors still finding their feet in local theatre.
It is to MADC’s credit that the club consistently provides acting opportunities for inexperienced people interested in drama.
The audience was fully aware that this would be something quite different from MADC’s usual fare, and (on the whole) everyone involved pulled it off remarkably well.
There were a few new faces well worth looking out for, and audiences will be pleased to know that they’ll be seeing more from these actors in upcoming productions.