At the Denver Center, Director Chris Coleman leans into the prince’s immaturity

He is perhaps the most thoroughly examined character in English literature. But endless examinations of Hamlet’s motives on paper and onstage over the centuries can never fully explain his actions in this, Shakespeare’s great tragedy.

The fun, of course is in the trying, and in this Denver Center Theatre Company version of Hamlet, Director Chris Coleman focuses on Hamlet’s youth and inexperience in a solid, entirely satisfying production.

While Coleman says in the program notes that directing Hamlet wasn’t necessarily on his bucket list, his experience playing the role twice in the past and now directing it as an older man clearly informed his choices. All the running about, which might seem heroic to a younger observer, comes across later as a whole lot of youthful folderol leading nowhere.

Coleman chose well with Ty Fanning to play up a college-aged Hamlet despite the character being closer to 30. In a convincing and athletic performance, Fanning is part bro, part savant and all vacillation as he confronts the situation surrounding his father’s death. It’s chilling and frustrating to watch as all evidence point to murder while Hamlet continues spinning his wheels wanting more.

Rebecca Watson and Brian Vaughn as Gertrude and Claudius in ‘Hamlet’ | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography

Major roles

The production has a number of standout performances alongside Fanning. One is Brik Berkes, who breathes life into the Ghost in its several appearances and also has a lot of fun with the Player King (he also plays a gravedigger and Cornelius). As Claudius, Brian Vaughn is less the sniveling usurper as he’s sometimes portrayed and more assertive in his dealings with Hamlet face.

David Lee Huýnh’s Laertes is another standout, more than keeping up with Fanning’s Hamlet and tragically convincing in his final act of contrition.

The idea of our prince as a guy with an entourage is well established here, with Barnardo, Francisco and Marcellus all firmly on Team Hamlet. Seth Andrew Bridges is a solid Horatio, carrying that final witnessing scene with skill.

Gertrude is played with style by Rebecca Watson, rising above the fretting mother role to emerge as more of a voice Hamlet will listen to. Ophelia (Maeve Moynihan) on the other hand gets relegated to the background even more so than dictated by the script. Her scenes with Hamlet seemed to fly by without a lot of attention paid to them.

Brik Berkes as the Ghost and Ty Fanning as Hamlet | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography

Lean set; fabulous hair

Far from a more elaborate royal chamber, Hamlet is set in an Elsinore Castle that’s spartan in a way that suggests war is the realm’s primary occupation. There are no tapestries or ornamentations, and the only two actual chairs used pop up from below only as needed by the king and queen.

Much more attention is paid to the costumes, which Coleman wanted to reflect some of the Viking heritage of Scandinavia. Costume Designer Meghan Anderson Doyle took that idea and ran with it, creating an array of striking looks with plenty of fur, leather, buckles, rich embroidery and brocade. Vaughn as Claudius gets the most badass crown ever seen — a golden-antlered affair that looks like it could easily be whipped off and used as a weapon.

Although there’s no wig designer credited in the program, hair is also big — really big. Hamlet sports a flowing main with multiple braids, and most of the other male characters are similarly coiffed in what we might imagine is the Viking standard ’do. One standout is poor Todd Cerveris as Polonius, who sports the kind of hair you might stick on a serial killer making his own bullets in the basement. I kept peering at him while he was onstage to try to discern if it was supposed to be his natural hair or some kind of hat. (I’m still not sure.)

Augmenting the spare set is a well-done series of lighting and sound cues by Paul Whitaker and Lindsay Jones, respectively. We’re typically bathed in grays and dark blues; the sun never shines in this Hamlet. Big percussive stings punctuating the ends of pivotal scenes, provide added oomph.

It’s probably fair to say that the themes of power, loyalty, family and betrayal in Hamlet can be compared to any era. It’s certainly true of today as we head into a momentous election where forces of good and evil are so apparent yet still, somehow, so evenly matched.

Maeve Moynihan as Ophelia, with Ty Fanning as Hamlet | Photo: Jamie Kraus Photography