Hamlet in Bed

"In its anatomizing of the psychodynamics of the rehearsal room, the play bears a resemblance to David Ives’s 'Venus in Fur.' It’s not, unfortunately, quite as entertaining. It is, however, suspenseful enough to sustain our interest...Both actors give strong performances." Full Review

"Director Lisa Peterson has crafted a wonderfully bleak and tense production from Laurence's improbable psychological drama. The 90-minute two-hander is packed with some striking visuals and terrific acting, but the text itself fails to generate enough heat to match its attention-grabbing premise...By the time Michael quips to the audience that his misuse of a word was a 'Freudian slip, like this whole play,' you may be ready to agree with him." Full Review

"Under Lisa Peterson's direction, both Laurence and O'Toole deliver extremely fascinating performances that are the polar opposite of each other...Peterson's creative team complements the unnerving tone established early on...The full scenes themselves are much stronger overall, and it's lovely to watch Laurence and O'Toole sink their teeth into the compelling characters he has created." Full Review

"Despite its provocative if not exactly credible premise, the play doesn't succeed in making its disparate themes coalesce. Its strangeness is only emphasized by the varying theatrical styles employed...Laurence delivers a performance intense enough...But it's O'Toole, still sizzlingly sexy at 62, who's the standout here." Full Review

"Laurence gets a startling amount of mileage out of this soapy premise thanks to the show's off-kilter style, Lisa Peterson's modulated direction, transformative lighting and, indispensably, the electrifying Annette O’Toole. Though the play is ostensibly Michael's story, 'Hamlet in Bed' emerges as Anna's play." Full Review

"'Hamlet in Bed' is clever and creepy and Laurence makes a charismatic nutjob. (O’Toole is also strong as the could-be mother.) The portions of narration written in verse are surprisingly solid...But the fascination of the cross-references pretty quickly pales, perhaps especially in Lisa Peterson’s stylishly noir production, leaving you with nothing but the obsession to hang on to. That’s insufficient...Even at only 90 minutes I began to feel I was trapped in someone’s scream-therapy session." Full Review

"Too much of 'Hamlet in Bed' feels implausible and tiresomely hip. Directed by Lisa Peterson, the play is presented on a dark, nearly bare stage, the actors dressed in black. The initial tone is infused with self-serious film-noir, which morphs into avant-garde collage and from there into primal scream therapy." Full Review

"There's a powerful, if contrived, idea at the center of 'Hamlet in Bed,' but, until it finally explodes in a blistering dramatic confrontation, it resides too firmly in the separate echo chambers of its protagonists' miseries. Anna and Michael are a pair of case studies, their interest more clinical than compelling. As Gertrude herself notes in Hamlet, what is wanted is more matter, less art." Full Review

"...improbable but often engrossing, sometimes funny, well-performed, but highly implausible metatheatrical piece about a modern-day Hamlet and his overpowering Oedipal urges...Director Lisa Peterson squeezes mostly lifelike performances from O’Toole and Laurence...'Hamlet in Bed' isn’t very convincing, but it succeeds in keeping you awake during its 90 intermissionless minutes." Full Review

"I found this play interesting, informative, and thought-provoking as it shed a fresh look on a subject that takes down a lot of people, who normally end up committing suicide. The need to connect because you have been abandoned is a torment that is made palpable in this production." Full Review

"In the end, the play’s the thing. And despite some poetic passages, this one feels like a self-indulgent acting exercise...Lisa Peterson’s staging is aptly shadowy. Laurence does morose and angst like nobody’s business. O’Toole is gritty and touching. Despite that, 'Hamlet' grows wearying. Get thee to a Sleepy’s." Full Review

"The conceit is brilliant and the execution by the actors under Lisa Peterson’s direction is equally brilliant and equally engaging. Both actors move – glide actually – in and out of narration, monologues, and engaging scenes...This is a complicated and deeply rich script that lingers with the audience long after the curtain call." Full Review

"Playwright Michael Laurence portrays an actor named Michael in 'Hamlet in Bed,' in his visceral and unpredictable if not actually believable, two-character hallucinatory drama...He stalks a broken former actress, formidably played by Annette O'Toole with equal parts toughness, desperation and feline litheness." Full Review

"Once we are given the facts, the ending becomes very predictable though the actors are very intense throughout...'Hamlet in Bed' is an acting tour de force for its cast of two and will probably interest theater people more than the usual run of theatergoers. It is cast in the new form of theater that is more storytelling than dramatization. Michael Lawrence adds another neurotic, obsessive portrayal to his résumé." Full Review

"Michael has a theory that Shakespeare wrote the scene where Hamlet and Gertrude argue about her worth as a mother first. 'Hamlet in Bed' takes that scene as a point of departure and expands it, reminding us how inexhaustible the source material is, even as it offers up two very good actors in a minimalist production with, I suspect, relatively narrow appeal." Full Review

"The acting by both Michael Laurence and Annette O’Toole is impressive. Multimedia is used to minimal but good effect, but the background music, designed to guide our emotions and keep our attention, seems too present and at points it feels as if there is too much language here. We want to understand and sympathize, but we also want to go back and re-read that speech we just heard, which would be possible if this were a novel." Full Review

"Director Lisa Peterson, along with scene designer Rachel Hauck and props master Zachary Serafin, create an effective noir atmosphere. The ending, which is really ambiguous, may leave audiences dissatisfied, and the characters aren’t given the opportunity to demonstrate much growth...Both actors hold the stage and are fun to watch as the two tussle." Full Review

"Your average theatergoer rarely has the occasion for an in-depth study of a single scene. But doing so provides a fascinating opportunity to understand both the play and certain characters in great detail. Michael Laurence’s terrific new two-hander does just that...Laurence, O’Toole and director Lisa Peterson pull the whole thing off beautifully." Full Review

"The gifted Michael Lawrence and Annette O'Toole under the direction of Lisa Peterson make this close to preposterous conceit worth exploring simply for its dramatic potential...A mixture of revelatory monologues and confrontational scenes bring an immediate relevance to the famous 'closet scene' to which Michael's interpretation presumably brings new insights. This is what gives this play its Hamlet Complex motivation and theme but makes for a curious and cagey show-piece." Full Review

"It’s an terrifically rich scenario, and under Lisa Peterson’s astute direction, the show unfolds like a highly theatrical noir...The play itself proves to be not as thoroughly engaging...By the play’s end though, Laurence’s writing recovers, and he leaves the characters and theatergoers with a marvelous hanging question mark about who these people are." Full Review

"They bring lively energy to these characters, but they can't quite make the plot feel like more than an inside joke for Shakespeare lovers. The mother-son dynamic — angsty, vaguely incestuous — gets indulgent, and it's hard to fight the nagging sense that another play captured this relationship better. Oh, right: That would be 'Hamlet.'" Full Review

"It’s frustrating to encounter what could be potent drama when it’s underdramatized. I like the idea of 'Hamlet in Bed,' but I wonder if it might benefit from another draft. Turn it from a two-hander into a trio, maybe, putting Mary onstage. Or fold in Phillip, Anna’s beloved Hamlet, make it a foursome, and flash back more. Show more of the story, tell less. And lose that damn mic." Full Review

"Mr. Laurence’s play has some high aspirations, but in fact offers little more than its premise, which feels progressively more contrived...'Hamlet in Bed' is a one-line gag that lasts 90 minutes, the script padded with uninteresting exposition made up of generic elements...the performances, while acceptable, do not stir up much emotion." Full Review

"Intense, thought-provoking, at times humorous, 90 minute (no intermission) play, making it’s world premiere at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre...If you haven’t seen or read 'Hamlet' in some time, 'Hamlet in Bed' will tickle your Shakespearean fancy and renew or instill some curiosity. No 'Get thee to a nunnery' is spoken here…I hope that O’Toole will get there to more stage opportunities." Full Review

"Peterson may have been stretching to add elements to a play that was built on a shaky foundation. Her film noir style lends the work a seriousness that it doesn’t quite earn. The projection and lighting design serve Peterson’s vision well, creating shadows and fog, but at the end, I came out wishing that a play that held so much promise had been more than smoke and mirrors." Full Review