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THEATER REVIEW Comins' 'Hamlet' an inspiration Comment By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jun. 24, 2016 at 8:27 PM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jun. 24, 2016 at 8:27 PM » RELATED CONTENT • OSF's outdoor season heats up • Quills & Queues: Comins reflects on what it means to be Hamlet at OSF... • Four premieres and five Bard plays to highlight Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2016 seaso... » Social News Any person entering into the hallowed halls of "Hamlet" — easily the most famous play by William Shakespeare, and probably the most famous play in the history of the English-speaking theater — must do so with a certain amount of preliminary fortification. Actors, supporting artists, audience members and professional critics alike, tend to approach the famed tragedy as though it were an old friend; even those who have never seen the play will appreciate the fact that its words and characters have pervaded the Anglospheric consciousness for many long years. Just as the play itself belongs to no one audience or venue, so too does the title character belong to no single actor. The Prince of Denmark is the most preeminent benchmark for any thespian to play, and many of the best have seen their careers live or die by their interpretation of the role. Laurence Olivier was said to have sent people scurrying from their seats at the Old Vic, so fiery and visceral was his performance. John Gielgud played the role five times over a 14-year period. A few women have tackled the role, too, including the brilliant Sarah Bernhardt. Contemporary actors so diverse as Mel Gibson and Ian McKellen have given it a try. The object of this brief history lesson is to point out the fact that to step into the most famous role ever written by The Bard is to transmogrify oneself — to move away from mere craft and into the sort of rarefied air that requires extraordinary artistic skill. An actor playing Hamlet will inevitably be on the receiving end of a special kind of scrutiny — not least of all from themselves. As such, it gives your critic great pleasure to confirm that Danforth Comins — who has long since established himself as one of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's finest, through roles as diverse as Stanley in "Streetcar Named Desire" and Mark Anthony in "Julius Caesar" — visibly came of age on the main stage of the Allen Elizabethan Theatre this past week as he launched himself fearlessly into a brilliant, accessible and contemporary interpretation of the suicidal prince, one that walked the razor's edge between humor and intensity in exactly the way an audience member might expect from a fine young actor in one of the most important roles of his career. Comins is an inspiration. His take on Hamlet's unhinged frame of mind after visiting with the ghost of his dead father (Richard Howard) shows us a most modern sort of madness — the Prince as a crazy rich kid, scribbling on walls, donning kohl eye-makeup and fiddling around on a lipstick red Fender guitar. But Comins is far more than just a rock 'n' roll bad boy in leather pants. He gallops fearlessly and beautifully through some of the best speeches in theater history. In one of the more charming moments of the night, Comins offers his extended microphone to members of the audience as a means of including them in that luminary opening phrase from the soliloquy in the Nunnery Scene — "to be ... TO BE ..." — Comins coaxes the next lines out of select audience members in a move that might easily have been viewed as unbearably cheesy in the hands of another actor, but worked extremely well for Comins, who is clearly gleeful to be eating up such a meaty role. While Comins can accurately be lauded as the solid center of the play, there are stellar performances from much of the rest of the cast as well. Derrick Lee Weeden, as Polonius, is brilliantly witty and imbued with gravitas as he negotiates the slings and arrows of his role as counselor to Claudius. Christiana Clark — your critic is slightly in awe of the amount of water being carried in 2016 for OSF by this industrious young artist — takes the role of Horatio to the next level. Dylan Paul and Cedric Lamar as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, respectively, are both superb. And Jennie Greenberry, now entering her second season in rep, plays Ophelia with the sort of slightly borderline adolescent neurosis that makes grown men cry, if not run screaming. The rest of the ensemble provides the usual level of international performance we have come to expect from OSF. Musical accompaniment is exceptionally powerful. Scott Kelly and his music, usually presented to the public under the banner of the band "Neurosis," is a clever aural juxtaposition to Shakespeare's words, and the music gives deeper shades and color to the experience, thanks in no small part to Kelly's sensitive playing. The decision to include what the program refers to as "doom metal" in a production of so classic a piece of theater is just one of many smart decisions made by Lisa Peterson, a director whose ambitious vision for "Hamlet" has paid off in spades with this production — one that must be seen to be appreciated. "Hamlet" plays through Oct. 14 in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Posted Jun. 24, 2016 at 8:27 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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