A laugh-inducing feminist twist on one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays is taking a Vernon theatre's stage by storm.
Powerhouse Theatre presents Ophelia Chooses, a comedy/drama that tells the story of a modern-day playwright and feminist who mysteriously enters the world of Shakespeare's Hamlet in an effort to right the wrongs suffered by Ophelia, the play's heroine.
That modern-day playwright is Fay, who is apparently invisible to all characters other than Ophelia. Throughout the play she implores Ophelia to stand up for herself and not let the men around her decide her fate for her. She even butts heads with Shakespeare himself, who is rolling in his grave over the revisions being foisted upon his original play.
It's a high-minded show created by playwright Buddy White that injects modern sensibilities about female empowerment into a classic Shakespearean tragedy. At various points Shakespeare's iambic pentameter clashes with Fay's modern turns of phrase, to hilarious effect. Ophelia at times sheds the iambic pentameter in her speech, thus freeing herself from the conventions of an era not kind to women.
"Do not give him all the good lines!" Fay begs Ophelia during an exchange with her brother, Laertes, one of several moments that breaks the fourth wall while supporting the play's moral thrust.
"This show is for people who don't like Shakespeare and for people who do like Shakespeare," said theatre president Tiffany Wolters just before a special first showing of the play on Feb. 15.
"It takes a spin off of Hamlet and instead looks at Ophelia, who kills herself because Hamlet does not love her in Shakespeare's play, and she's just being pulled by her brother and her father and Hamlet," Wolters explained.
"This show is about a redo. She claws herself out of her grave, and then someone from our time (Fay) says, 'no, no, no, you don't have to listen to these men who are going to tell you what to do.' It's about her realizing that she actually has power."
The show is about the realization that people don't have to be stuck in one place 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” even, in this case, if they're living under the restrictive social norms of the Elizabethan era.
The play is directed by Joan Sasges, who cast actress Sharilyn Poole as Ophelia in part for her range of acting abilities, as the lead character goes through a range of emotional states, from "total grief to triumph," as Sasges said. Ophelia is also speaking on 99 out of 100 pages in the script, and Sasges saw Poole as an actress who could sustain a lengthy performance.
Ophelia Chooses is Poole's first time on the other side of the curtain on the Powerhouse stage, having previously worked backstage in her year with the theatre. She said moments after the Feb. 15 performance that taking on the lead role was about tapping into the complex relationships Ophelia has with the other male characters, and how they enforce the patriarchal constraints in her life.
"I hope the message that is received is that anyone can sort of break out of those constraints and choose a life for themselves, or even if the choices are limited they still have the ability to make a choice," Poole said.
White's play, as directed by Sasges, takes Shakespeare's signature sense of humour and elevates it over the overwhelming tragedy of one of his most complex characters, while shifting the focus off of Hamlet.
"There is a lot of comedy in Hamlet, but it's usually rolled over because you're so focused on this great, huge character of Hamlet who is, as Shakespeare says, the most complex character that's ever been on stage," Sasges said.
Other actors in the play include Spencer Freeman-Marsh as Hamlet, Ezra Sanders as Laertes, Heather Leask as Gertrude, Paul Philps as Claudius, Heather Boyd as Fay, Christopher Marioni as Polonius and Will Cullen as Shakespeare.
Ophelia Chooses will be playing at Powerhouse until March 1, with performances on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and a matinee performance on Sunday, Feb. 23. For tickets or more information, visit .
