Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

314 Chapter 11 The Critic
Few plays are as probing, fascinating, and thought-provoking as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the play is produced
with regularity throughout the theater-going world. But how do directors and designers make it fresh and exciting to
see again and again? How do they make it a work of contemporary art? This 2009 production by the Kolyada Theatre
of Yekaterinberg, Russia, portrayed the Danish prince at the beginning of the play as a fragile and spoiled child who
bites his nails but later assumes the role of an avenger and eventually a national hero. The production, directed by
Nikolai Kolyada, who considers himself a “great provocateur,” surprised and generally thrilled French audiences in its
2011 showing at the Odéon Theatre in Paris with its imaginative imagery and novel ideas. Kolyada also designed the
scenery; the costumes were by Elena Getsevich, lighting by Denis Novoselov, and the grinning child-Hamlet was played
by Oleg Yagodine. © Laurencine Lot
or the rehearsals of such plays (Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Molière’s The Versailles Rehearsal,
Jean Anouilh’s The Rehearsal).
We use the term metatheatre, or metadrama, to
describe those plays that specifically refer back to themselves
in this manner, but in fact all plays and play productions
can be analyzed and evaluated on the way they use
the theatrical format to best advantage and the way they
make us rethink the nature of theatrical production, for
all plays stand within the spectrum of a history of theatre
and a history of theatrical convention. All plays and productions
can be studied, often with illuminating results,
from the perspective of how they adopt or reject prevailing
theatrical conventions, how they fit into or deviate
from prevailing dramatic genres, how they echo various
elements of past plays or productions—and what theatrical
effects, good and bad, such historical resonances may
have. Sometimes a play’s reflection of the theatre allows
us to recognize the “theatre” of everyday life: the roles
that we play, the ways that we present ourselves, the spectacles
that fill us with awe in our own world.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE
Finally, we look upon all theatre as entertainment. Great
theatre is never less than pleasing. Even tragedy delights.
People go to see Hamlet not to wallow in despair but, rather,
to celebrate its theatrical form and experience the liberating
emotions that become released in the play’s murderous
finale. Hamlet himself knows the thrill of staged tragedy:
HAMLET: What players are they?
ROSENCRANTZ: Even those you were wont to take such
delight in, the tragedians . . .
What is this entertainment value that all plays possess?
Most obviously, the word entertainment suggests