Cheers to Hamlet at Elsie’s Bar
A StageLightandMagic production reviewed by Francesca Mudannayake
We can’t get away from Shakespeare. His plays, sonnets, ideas and words are omnipresent in our culture and to resist is futile. But, who is this man really? And where do his ideas comes from? Feroze Kamardeen (Pusswedilla, Freddy) takes a stab at answering this with ‘Hamlet at Elsie’s’ Bar’. An original musical comedy that he wrote and premiered ten years ago, the production got a new lease of life last week with a new director at the helm, Sashane Perera (‘Every Brilliant Thing’, ‘Fun Home’). Bawdy, sassy, and self-aware, the play proved to be a splendid night out at the theatre.
Will Shakes (Demintha Fonseka) is going through a writer’s block so he spends most of his waking hours as one of Elsie’s Bar’s patrons along with the other alcoholics, drug addicts, and unemployed actors (same thing, really). Great literary figures such as John Donne (Shazad Synon), Christopher Marlowe (Avishka de Alwis), and Ben Johnson (Niren Neydorff) pop up here and there so the entire bar seems to be quite jolly. Right? No. Claude (Vishan Gunawardena) the barman is jealous of his brother Osric (Kanishka Herat) who once upon a time stole his lover, Ophelia (Shannon Misso) and made her his wife. Claude decides it’s time for his revenge and murders his brother but Osric’s son, Horatio (Ashiq Dole), devises a way to get a confession out of him. Mini sub-plots happen here and there; Leyartee (Amarsha Tissera) hopes to get engaged to Horatio, Rosie Crantz (Daniella Perera) and Gilda Stern (Christina VanCuylenburg) lust after Horatio and try to break up his engagement to Leyartee. It’s dramatic. It’s Shakespeare! And thus he starts to write his biggest play yet, Hamlet, based on all that happens at Elsie’s Bar.
It’s a simple enough storyline and with a small ensemble cast Sashane Perera focused on perfecting each detail – no actor seemed out of place, no line felt clunky and every movement seemed to have a motivation behind it. I was particularly taken with the duo that was Rosie Crantz and Gilda Stern who provided moments of comic relief particularly with their song ‘Us or We’. At any given moment, you could spot them plotting in a scene or looking on in disdain as the action unfolded.
It also helped that the impressive set (designed by Ifaz Bin Jameel and Sashane Perera) lent itself to this action with an elevated bar, a spiral staircase, and an upstairs corridor providing enough levels for multiple things to be going on at once. Add in the traditional Elizabethan garb (Vishan Gunawardena) and some solid choreography (Ayushka Nugaliyadda, Mihara Jayalath), the camaraderie of the bar felt joyful and technicolour.
However, the biggest element of the play was its musicality with the band as its beating heart. Directed by Tehani and Amarsha Tissera, every musician worked in tandem with the cast to enhance the experience as most of the songs were rewritten and set to popular poprock ballads from which the bulk of the comedy derived itself. As a result, Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’ became Claude’s ode to being just a ‘Bar Man’. ‘I Need A Hero’ became ‘Goodbye Horatio’ as Layertee spurns her lover. There’s even a reworking of Dr. Dre’s and Snoop Dogg’s ‘The Next Episode’. It gives the audience something to relate to and perhaps makes Shakespeare more accessible but I also wonder whether it could be done completely with original music and still retain its comedy. Seeing as the reworked lyrics were quite funny I’m sure it wouldn’t be a stretch to start thinking about developing an original score for it. Hamlet at Elsie’s Bar in 2029?
Either way, this show takes pride in casting the finest singers that Colombo has to offer and probably is the only show this year where each and everybody’s voices was nothing short of stunning. I mean…the harmonies!!!Props of course go to our protagonist, Demintha Fonseka, who stood out for his excellent control and vibrato, but also to Daniella Perera, Vishan Gunawardena, and Amarsha Tissera who were all such a joy to listen to. If anyone wants to see the future of musical theatre, look no further than these four.
I did not know what to expect when going in for this show and perhaps I would have preferred a meatier storyline but maybe this was not the intention. Rather the goal was to create a homegrown production that didn’t take itself too seriously but would nevertheless aim to excel in all areas. A tight cast, brilliant singing, and excellent production value – what more could I ask for?