One-Woman Hamlet Outdoors

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Libby Amato - Hamlet

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is one of the most daunting pieces of drama in the history of the stage. It’s difficult enough for an entire cast to bring it to life onstage. The idea of having one person stage it alone would be absurd. It would take a particularly talented woman with just the right amount of energy to really be able to pull it off. Thankfully for Optimist Theatre, that woman is Libby Amato. Under the direction of Michael Stebbins, Amato tumbles through a breathtakingly lucid presentation of the legendary tragedy.

Staged as an outdoor production, Optimist’s one-woman Hamlet doesn’t offer Amato much in the way of production. There are a few sound cues. There’s a bit of audio. Characters are accompanied onstage by different props. Hamlet’s mother carried a black fan. Polonius carries a handkerchief. The swords are a bit awkward in the climactic duel at the end of the drama, but Amato does such a good job of drawing-in the audience on the way to that final scene that its inevitable conclusion feels quite fluid.  

The challenge in staging a working ensemble of characters with a single actor lies in creating the right balance. Bring each and every character to the stage with the same amount of intensity and it might come across as unwelcoming and psychologically unhinged. Allow too much of the delivery to settle and the whole show might end up coming across as a simple spoken word performance. Amato finds the perfect amount of characterization to filter through every character she is bringing to the stage. It’s remarkable to see her work her way through it all. In places it’s breathtakingly impressive.

Optimist Theatre’s Hamlet is 90 minutes long. The show runs through July 21 at various outdoor spaces all over Milwaukee. Admission is free. For more information, visit optimisttheatre.org/2024season.html.