Hamlet, 2014

Collective CineticO. Hamlet (2014)

concept, direction and voice by Francesca Pennini
dramaturgsAngelo Pedroni, Francesca Pennini
action and acting for Hamlet  Carmine Parise, Angelo Pedroni, Stefano Sardi
technical advice and applausometer programming Simone Arganini, Roberto Rettura
co-production CollettivO CineticO, Teatro Franco Parenti, Milano
Premiere 6th December  2014, Teatro Vascello di Roma

Writing off the character. CollettivO CineticO’s anonymous Hamlet

by Angela Bozzaotra
Three dancers are on stage tied to a set of strings, alternating centrifugal movement and centripetal constriction in a circular, obsessive motion. Four random spectators are selected from the audience to join in a competition to play the Prince of Denmark; a “clap-o-meter” determines who the winner is. The strings to which the performers are bound draw out a triangle shape, which reflects the composition of Hamlet: the triadic mother-son-father structure, at whose centre we find the Prince of Denmark, cursed and moody, crazy but wise.
The show’s leading device is consistently multiple in nature: visually, performatively, ludically and semiotically. Treated as a given and introjected into contemporary mass culture, Hamlet is a non-being that supplies the pretext to reveal the ruthlessness of character interpretation, which is shown as riddled with customary clichés and requiring critical distance in order to be discussed.