For the fifth time in its 39 seasons, St. Louis Shakespeare is mounting Hamlet. The current production is well conceived by director Patrick Siler and well executed by the cast and the production team.

At the start of the play Dustin Petrillo’s Hamlet is deeply affected by recent death of his father and the hasty remarriage of his mother, Gertrude, to his father’s brother, Claudius. Hamlet’s depression is dispelled when his father’s ghost appears and reveals that he was murdered by Claudius. Others see the ghost, but no one else hears the ghost’s bidding Hamlet to avenge the murder.

After Hamlet’s encounter with the ghost, his bipolar behavior worries others. Is this madness real, or has Hamlet adopted an “antic disposition” to hide his intentions? This production allows the ambiguity to remain. Just before the final scene, Petrillo shows signs that Hamlet has come to terms with his fate.

Colin Nichols’s Claudius is a shrewd politician who is at his best when he co-opts Laertes’ rebellion. The guilt Claudius confesses to in his soliloquy is just as convincing as his outward assurance. Gertrude’s love for her son and her new husband are both evident in Donna Parrone’s portrayal. Chuck Brinkley has fun with Polonius’ quirkiness but does not go overboard with it.

After Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius, his son Laertes, plunges headlong into a quest for revenge. In Bradley M. Dillon’s performance, Laertes’s rashness contrasts strongly with Hamlet’s vacillation. As Horatio, Creighton Markovich is a loyal friend to Hamlet. Hannah Duncan’s Ophelia is appropriately baffled by Hamlet’s mixed signals.

In the final act, Hamlet says the friends hired to spy on him “did make love to this employment.” That is exactly what they do in the portrayals by Jordan Ray Duncan as Rosencrantz and Austin Cochran as Guildenstern. Don McClendon has the measure of two very different parts: the somber ghost and the comical gravedigger. The commendable supporting cast includes Alexander Huber, Bryce A. Miller, Jordan Ousley, Bryn Sentnor, and Jay Winkeler.

Kaylie Carpenter’s scenic design features two raised platforms. The bigger one includes a large trapdoor that facilitates the graveyard scene. The duel in the final scene takes place between the first row of seats and the platforms. Erik Kuhn choreographed the stage combat.

Michele Friedman Siler’s costumes set the action in a modern, repressive regime where the characters listed as “security” in the program are distinguished by their nightsticks, shades, and all-black clothing. Sound designer David A. N. Jackson is visible audience left as he provides an evocative soundscape. The lighting is by Tony Anselmo; the props and appropriations are by Mikhail Lynn.

Hamlet continues through April 13 in the Donn Lux Family Performing Arts Center at Lift for Life Academy, 1731 South Broadway. The theater entrance and parking are at the rear of the building.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Marissa Meadows
From the left, Dustin Petrillo as Hamlet, Don McClendon as the gravedigger, and Creighton Markovich as Horatio in St. Louis Shakespeare’s Hamlet.