Theater season ends with Shakespeare's Hamlet

Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts tops off its 2002-03 theater season with a play that has enthralled audiences for more than 400 years, Shakespeare's Hamlet. The play is a fascinating combination of ghost story, murder mystery and political intrigue, and Hamlet's relevance continues undiminished.

Ben Williams '03 plays Hamlet in the celebrated Shakespeare play being produced at Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, April 24-26, May 1-3. Thomas Hoebbel Photography

The play, under the direction of Professor Bruce Levitt, opens Thursday, April 24, at 8 p.m. Evening performances continue April 25-26 and May 1-3. One afternoon matinee will be offered May 3 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 (students/seniors) and $10 (general) in advance. For tickets and information, call or visit the box office in the Schwartz Center, 430 College Ave., 12:30-5:30 p.m., weekdays; 254-ARTS.

"Shakespeare is the ultimate purveyor of the human condition," said Levitt, "and Hamlet is definitely his most complex character. One of the most cited figures in Western consciousness, Hamlet poses the questions that haunt humankind."

Perhaps Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet tells the story of the melancholic Prince of Denmark, haunted by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder.

Hamlet features both professional actors and students. Playing the compelling character of Hamlet is senior Ben Williams, last seen as Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus. There are 14 students in the cast, including Liz DeSantis as Ophelia, Matt Keagle as Horatio, Manuel Fihman as Rosencrantz and Greg Roman as Guildenstern. Resident professional teaching associates round out the cast: Sarah K. Chalmers as the Player Queen, Laurence Drozd as Claudius, Daryll Heysham as Polonius, John Payne as Ghost and Player King, and Jan Rogge as Gertrude.

The vivid world that Hamlet inhabits is created by Cornell theater's resident designers Kent Goetz (set), Sarah Bernstein (costumes), Ed Intemann (lights) and Warren Cross (sound). Cross also is composing original music for play underscoring and overtures. The sword fights and other fight sequences are being designed by fight choreographer Jen Nelson.

Be advised that the play contains adult content and nudity.