See it if You are interested either in the feisty and focussed actress Annette O'Toole or in the Hamlet closet scene as the story's springboard
Don't see it if You expect the actor-author to newly illuminate anything particularly inspiring about Hamlet, character or play.
See it if you love to see new "re-tellings" of Shakespeare classics and enjoy great acting and absorbing writing.
Don't see it if you are the theatre-goer who procrastinates and then is sorry to have missed an engaging show.
See it if you know the text of Hamlet reasonably well. This play brilliantly transposes two key acts of Hamlet into a parallel plot set NOW.
Don't see it if you don't know or like Hamlet.OR you don't like metatheatre (theatre about theatre).
See it if You like witty lines built off of old phrasings.
Don't see it if Not a fan of some cliches.
See it if You like great performances
Don't see it if Like
See it if you're a fan of Michael Laurence.
Don't see it if you're not a fan of Michael Laurence.
See it if You love the actors.
Don't see it if You like watching engaging theater.
"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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