A cynical, riveting Hamlet

Decisiveness isn't Hamlet's strong suit. He's all confusion and ambivalence. But in Eclectic Theater Company's spare-yet-bold production of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," Rik Deskin delivers a Prince of Denmark particularly sympathetic and raw when his father's ghost (Dennis Kleinsmith) scolds his son for inaction.

Deskin looks like a tormented and shamed little boy when he is supernaturally chewed out by the murdered king for not killing his assassin, Claudius (also played by Kleinsmith), in a timely way. And Deskin's pained approach in ETC's vital, 3 ½-hour staging suggests that Hamlet's futility stems from primal terror more than anything else.

Terror would also explain why this Hamlet is more of an unbridled tyrant than a romantic anti-hero. He's peevish, predatory (hitting on a female version of Guildenstern, played by Carolyn Monroe), unflatteringly cynical and shockingly dismissive of the touchstones of his inner life. This is a Hamlet who does not put on existential brakes while tossing aside the remains of his childhood jester Yorick.

Yet Deskin's Hamlet, twisted by all the subterfuges, double-crosses and politicking going on in Elsinore, still comes across like a longtime friend who's suddenly gone over the deep end.

The tactically inspired double-casting of the superb Kleinsmith underscores a central question in this production directed by Cara Anderson-Ahrens. Does history really change through an exchange of kings? Or through sweeping acts of revenge? The intimate space at Capitol Hill's Odd Duck Studio has a way of wrapping those questions around an audience, as does "Hamlet's" fine cast.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com