Coin & Ghost, LA’s theatrical home for remixed mythologies, will present its latest World premiere, “Bad Hamlet,” at the end of July, as the inaugural production of its second season. The emerging theater company’s new work — devised by the ensemble and directed by Rob Adler — is an irreverent, interactive and inventive play that places Shakespeare’s masterpiece directly up against the many interpretations of it, whether accurate, misremembered or re-invented entirely. “Bad Hamlet” will run from Thursday, July 25, through Saturday, Aug. 24, at New American Theatre in Hollywood.
Culture Spot LA readers can win a pair of tickets to the show on Saturday, July 27, at 8 p.m. Email editor@culturespotla.com with “Bad Hamlet” in the subject line to be entered in a drawing.
Based on the legend of “the bad quarto” — the unbelievable-but-true story of how the first published version of “Hamlet” was stolen and recreated from memory by one of Shakespeare’s original actors — “Bad Hamlet” will be a unique, unpredictable and extraordinary theatrical event that explores the intersection of Shakespeare, memory, modern technology and Los Angeles.
Director Rob Adler explains the modern technology component, “During each performance, the actors — equipped with cameras — will venture out of the theater and engage with the community immediately outside, who naturally have varying degrees of ‘Hamlet’ knowledge. These interactions will be live-streamed back into the theater for our audience. However these encounters go — whatever version, portion or reference to ‘Hamlet’ is remembered — will impact, shape and ultimately become the ‘Hamlet’ that happens live onstage. Each performance of this ever-shifting, crowdsourced Hamlet will be a unique, unpredictable and, we hope, extraordinary theatrical event.”
Coin & Ghost (C&G) will mount 15 “Bad Hamlet” performances over the five-week run, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Tickets cost $25 for general admission, and, as always, C&G will offer a healthy mix of Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC) tickets for certain shows. PWYC Nights will include the preview (7/25) as well as every ticket during the second and third weekends (8/1-8/10)!
Suggested age limit is 16 years or older due to adult themes and conversations. Mobile phone use will be encouraged for this production!
New American Theatre is located at 1312 N. Wilton Place, LA 90028. For more information and tickets, visit https://coinandghost.org/badham.