Elgin theater companies to hold auditions for abridged 'Hamlet'

The Elgin Theatre Company and the Fremont Street Theater Company will hold auditions for their coproduction of "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Abridged." This classic Shakespeare tragedy has been adapted by Director Thomas Neumann and will be part of the 2019 Elgin Fringe Festival.

Auditions will be 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 28, and 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, July 29, at the First United Methodist Church, 216 E. Highland Ave., Elgin.

Auditions will take place for all roles and include a cold reading from the script.

Rehearsals will be held every Wednesday and Friday night beginning Aug. 2 at the Elgin church.

Performances will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12; 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13; and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., 8th floor, Elgin.

Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

Now in a new version, specifically adapted for Elgin Fringe Festival, this tale is shortened down to just 40 minutes. Still containing the intrigue, drama, and climactic finale that has made Hamlet the second most filmed story in history, this classic has been adapted to turn a long and broad drama into a small play of family loyalty and betrayal.

The character breakdowns are:

• Hamlet: The Prince of Denmark is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle's scheming and disgust for his mother's sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts.

• Claudius: The King of Denmark, Hamlet's uncle, and the play's antagonist. The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling - his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere.

• Polonius/Ghost/Osric: Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain of Claudius's court, is a pompous, conniving old man and father of Laertes and Ophelia. The Ghost is Hamlet's recently deceased father, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius and calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. However, it is not entirely certain whether the ghost is what it appears to be, or whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates that the ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him and tempt him into murder, and the question of what the ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively resolved. Osric is the foolish courtier who judges the duel.

• Horatio: Hamlet's close friend, who studied with the prince at the University in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play. After Hamlet's death, Horatio remains alive to tell Hamlet's story.

• Laertes: Polonius's son and Ophelia's brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet.

• Gertrude: The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet's mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth.

• Ophelia: Polonius's daughter, a beautiful, young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives in to Polonius's schemes to spy on Hamlet. Even in her lapse into madness and death, she remains maidenly, singing songs about flowers and finally drowning in the river amid the flower garlands she had gathered.

For more information, call Richard Grieger, (847) 338-0506, or visit www.elgin-theatre.org or www.fremontstreeettheater.com.