[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Following its acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company returns with Hamlet, directed by Michael J. Arndt, under the stars for its 30th anniversary season.
Celebrating its 30th season, the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company continues its mission of presenting professional productions of William Shakespeare’s works for audiences of all ages.
About Hamlet
Set in an imagined Kingdom of Denmark of the late 19th C, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet begins at the funeral of the sudden death of Prince Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. The funeral is hastily followed by the marriage of his mother, Queen Gertrude, to his uncle, Claudius, who has seized the throne. The brooding Hamlet is soon confronted by the Ghost of his dead father. The apparition reveals that he did not die of natural causes but was poisoned by Claudius. Charging Hamlet with the duty of revenge, the Ghost commands him to murder the usurping king. To mask this revelation, Hamlet adopts an “antic disposition.” Caught up in Hamlet’s erratic actions are Claudius, Gertrude, the court’s chief of staff, Polonius and his daughter, Ophelia, who has feelings for Hamlet.
Hamlet’s bizarre behavior deeply alarms the royal court. Claudius and Gertrude summon Hamlet’s school friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on him. Meanwhile, Polonius theorizes that Hamlet’s insanity stems from his unrequited love for Ophelia. Hamlet brutally rejects Ophelia in a staged confrontation, famously telling her to “get thee to a nunnery.”
Seeking concrete proof of Claudius’s guilt, he utilizes a visiting troupe of actors to perform The Murder of Gonzago, a play mimicking the Ghost’s description of the murder. When Claudius visibly panics and halts the performance, Hamlet confirms his uncle’s guilt. Shortly after, Hamlet finds Claudius praying but refrains from killing him, fearing that executing a repentant man would send his soul to heaven.
Hamlet confronts his mother in her apartment regarding her betrayal. Hearing a noise behind a tapestry, Hamlet kills the concealed figure, believing it to be Claudius. Instead, he discovers he has killed Polonius. Seizing the opportunity to rid himself of the dangerous prince, Claudius banishes Hamlet to England under the custody of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, carrying secret orders for Hamlet’s immediate execution. However, Hamlet discovers the plot, alters the mandates to doom his companions, and escapes back to Denmark via a pirate attack.
In his absence, grief drives Ophelia mad, leading to her tragic drowning. Her brother, Laertes, returns from France consumed by rage, demanding justice for his father and sister. Exploiting Laertes’s grief, Claudius orchestrates a rigged fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet. Laertes will wield a blade tipped with deadly poison, and as a backup, Claudius prepares a poisoned goblet of wine for Hamlet. During the duel, the conspiracy unravels catastrophically. Gertrude unknowingly drinks from the poisoned cup and dies. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the tainted foil, but in the ensuing scuffle, the weapons are exchanged, and Hamlet wounds Laertes with the same lethal blade. Realizing he is dying, Laertes confesses the King’s treachery. In a final, furious burst of action, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink the remaining toxic wine. With his dying breaths, Hamlet prevents his loyal friend Horatio from committing suicide.
Michael J. Arndt – Director’s Note for Hamlet
As a university professor and a professional theatre director, I’ve directed and acted in a large number of the comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances of William Shakespeare. My first year of college, I was cast (unbelievably) as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That production led to a lifelong love of the bard. Yet, after these many Shakespearean decades, I’ve always steered clear of Hamlet. I’ve taught the play many times, directed many scenes from the play, and even in the early days of computer animation, created an interactive courseware program to teach the play. But for me, as much as I loved the play, it was my Mount Everest. This year, as Kingsmen celebrates its 30th Festival, I thought it was about time for me to climb the mountain.
The character of Hamlet has always fascinated. The scholar, Harold Bloom, describes him as “the most aware and knowing figure ever conceived,” “unsurpassed in the West’s imaginative literature.” He has been played by nearly every major theatre (and film) actor, male and female, across the centuries and across the world. Directors have edited, adapted, twisted, and experimented with the play in practically every conceivable way.
What fascinates me the most about the play, and what I hope you will explore with me in this production, is its depiction of the nature of power and control, especially as it demonstrates itself in the controlled world of wealth and family. I was a fan of two recent HBO series, Succession and The Gilded Age. I saw in these modern dramas the dynamic and sometimes corrupting themes of Hamlet. What is it about power and wealth that is so addictive that one is willing to do horrible things to maintain it, even horrible things to one’s own family? How does one confront those horrible drives, if one does not have the power?
This production presents us with an imagined late nineteenth-century wealthy prince plucked away from a scholarly and artistic life in Germany. He is brought home to deal with a world that has been shattered by his father’s death and his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle. How can he cope with his shattered world, without power, but…with an imperative from beyond the grave? Is his answer to feign or actually go mad? Are his actions as damaging and damning as those he seeks to disrupt? In what parts of our lives do we identify with Hamlet and with the other characters in the play? Do we revel at or dismay at the phrase from the play: “What a piece of work is man.”
Join me on the climb. I hope that you will find it worth it.
Where:
California Lutheran University
60 W Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
When:
July 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 2026
Friday-Sunday, 8:00 p.m. – Park opens at 5:30pm
Tickets:
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About The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company
In 1997, a collaboration between Santa Susana Repertory Theatre Company and the Drama Department at California Lutheran University produced the first Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in Kingsmen Park on the campus of California Lutheran University. The first Festival featured a three-weekend run of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Festival was offered “free” to the public. Due to the success of that first Festival, the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company was formed as a not-for-profit professional theatre organization. KSC holds special contracts with Actors Equity Association (AEA) and is a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA).
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