Hamlet: An Experience NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (22)
See it if You enjoy new looks at old works. And if you understand Shakespeare. And like participating.
Don't see it if You know nothing of the true “Hamlet.”
See it if You enjoy immersive staging in an intimate space. You have some familiarity w/Hamlet. You like non-traditional adaptations of Shakespeare.
Don't see it if You're uncomfortable w/being in the middle of the action. You detest audience participation. You prefer Hamlet as written or seen as a whole
See it if You love Hamlet and are interested in a different angle on it. Enjoy interactive one woman shows. Like experimental theater
Don't see it if You are unfamiliar Hamlet, uncomfortable on stage, or are not interested by Hamlet. Read more
See it if you want to see Hamlet posed in a new way and like small, intimate performances.
Don't see it if you don't like audience participation, lo-fi theatre, or don't like abridged versions of classic texts.
See it if you'd like to see a sleek, stripped-down hour-long version of Shakespeare's longest play, & maybe even take on a role for yourself.
Don't see it if you are a purist when it comes to the Bard or have a total aversion to audience participation. Read more
See it if You want to be a part of Shakespeare and love immersive theatre. You want to see a version of hamlet like never before. Loved the actress
Don't see it if You prefer traditional theatre or Shakespeare.
See it if you like Shakespeare--especially "Hamlet".
Don't see it if audience participation Shakespeare isn't your cup of Elizabethan tea. Read more
See it if you want a different Hamlet "experience" that you are involved in as a condensed version includes the audience on a small bare stage.
Don't see it if you do not like participatory theater, are not familiar with the Shakespearean play or you cannot use your imagination to follow the action.
Critic Reviews (5)
"You will be able to get closer to Hamlet than you ever have before; you will come away richer for having been to this one...This telling is an intimate group effort and a journey that is a unique experience made the more unique because of each person there...Emily Carding does a courageous and intimate 50-minute portrayal of the core of the Prince’s story...The play is brought down to the essence of Hamlet’s experience and point of view."
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"On paper, it may sound gimmicky, but it allows the audience to meet the one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters at a very personal level. Outside the framework of Shakespeare’s play, Carding’s melancholy seems utterly genuine and all we want to do is help him. Sigfusdottir’s adaptation and Carding’s sensitive interpretation provide a shortcut to the empathy that many Hamlets crave but seldom achieve."
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"Although I found this framing story a tiny bit confusing, the essentials of what's happening are easy to understand. We're here to stage a version of 'Hamlet,' with Carding in the title role, but with members of the audience filling the other parts...This is An Experience – an opportunity to encounter Shakespeare's most iconic story from the inside – and unless you happen to be an actor, it's an experience you'll never have had before...But if I'm honest, first and foremost, it was pure good fun."
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"Carding is fearless, her grasp of the material flawless and her energy boundless, although it is a shame that the acoustics in the venue are terrible, with the loudest bits of dialogue bouncing back and overwhelming each other. If the right venue can be found to absorb all the slings and arrows, the whips and scorns, the poison and the sword fights, and Carding gets participants who listen to her, this would be an even more compelling telling of one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays."
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"Although the instructions are clear and lines/directions simple enough, never seeing this specific production before results in an unavoidable nervousness regarding everyone catching their cues. This, for me as a participant, took away from enjoying Emily Carding’s performance as Hamlet, which was only inches away...So, even though the performance is bold in its participatory element and features terrific acting by Carding – the overall ‘experience’ is somewhat lacking."
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