Hamlet at Montford Park Players

All performances will be held at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre at 92 Gay Street in the heart of Asheville’s historic Montford District, from September 23rd through October 22nd on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at montfordparkplayers.org and are, as always, FREE.

Hamlet is one of the best-known plays and is often spoken of as the greatest ever written in English. It has been performed on stage and screen a seemingly uncountable number of times, and still appears on lists of most performed plays year after year.

The classic plot follows Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, as he mourns the untimely death of his father, the king. A ghostly visit clues him in to the fact that his father was murdered by his uncle and current king, Claudius. Thus begins Hamlet’s plot to get his revenge. Meanwhile, he feigns madness, tries to assuage the fears of his love, Ophelia, and his mother, Gertrude. All this while himself trying to avoid his own uncle’s machinations to get rid of him. Tragedy ensues.

Director Glenna Grant is an actor, singer, creator, and teacher currently based in her hometown of Asheville, NC, after a decade performing professionally in New York. A life-long lover of Shakespeare, she was nevertheless resistant to taking on this particular play. As she said, “To me, Hamlet represented the sort of intellectualized toxic masculinity that dogs literary and theatrical communities alike, and I felt quite comfortable and smug in avoiding him. I was wrong, of course, which is usually the case when I am smug.”

Grant continued, “When I read Hamlet now, I see a portrait of a traumatized person who is trying their damndest to fix their broken world, but is going about it in all the worst ways.” Adding that she ultimately saw the opportunity to deliver “a streamlined, high-energy, passionate gut-punch of a production of one of the greatest works in the English language. Stark, modern, and emotionally honest.

To make that happen, Grant has assembled some of the best actors in Asheville, many of them veterans of the MPP stage. Jon Robinson will play Hamlet, with Ophelia, Gertrude and Claudius played by Gabrielle Bailey, Molly Graves, Sarah Felmet, respectively. Joining them are Eric Vik , Matt Wade , Dwight Chiles, among many others.

Behind the scenes Grant has Melon Wedick (set design), Devyn Ray (costumes), Jason Williams (lighting & sound) and Rachel Rugh (choreography).

Although Hamlet is well-known, very few take the time to actually see the play itself. It’s hoped by the whole cast and crew that audiences will come out and immerse themselves in this great work.

For more information or to obtain tickets, go to montfordparkplayers.org, or call (828) 254-5146.