Guthrie's new 'Hamlet' is old theater's last

Imagine leaving college for something like spring break but instead of going to Daytona Beach to frolic in surf and sand, you head home to find that your father has died and that your mother is marrying your uncle -- your dad's brother -- whom you strongly suspect of killing your father.

That's not the plot of a tawdry prime-time sitcom. It's the heart of "Hamlet," Shakespeare's tale of apparitions, madness and deadly power struggles among Danish royals that opens in a historic production today at the Guthrie Theater. It is the last show at the Vineland Place space the Guthrie has occupied since 1963. In June, the company will open its new $125 million theater on the Mississippi River.

The title role of "Hamlet" is perhaps the most coveted in the English-speaking theater repertoire. This tragic hero has been played by some of the greatest names of stage and screen -- Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Mel Gibson? Now, he is being depicted by the youngest-ever Hamlet at the Guthrie, relative unknown Santino Fontana, a 2004 graduate in the first class of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater bachelor of fine arts program.

Ophelia, his love interest, is played by classmate Leah Curney. Fontana, who will turn 24 during the run, and Curney, 25, star in a "Hamlet" set by director Joe Dowling in the 1940s with a touch of film noir.

So how does a young man from Richland, Wash., prepare for a role that has traditionally gone to more seasoned and better-known actors?

"Oh, dear, God -- one step at a time," said Fontana last week. "I've had a lot of advice -- lots -- about climbing this mountain." Stage and screen star Helen Carey told him "to forget his name. Focus on his story."

Hamlet may be his biggest role to date -- and potentially, a career-making one -- but Fontana already has impressed audiences with his performances at the Guthrie in "Death of a Salesman" and "Six Degrees of Separation."

For Curney, Ophelia is a highly problematic figure whom she is discovering. Ophelia's mother is absent; Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and the queen, is the only maternal figure in the script.

"[Ophelia] is one of Shakespeare's motherless women," said Curney, who grew up onstage as a young star at the Children's Theatre. "She is a smart cookie, surrounded by scholars, but she is removed from the nourishing influence of women, so she has to make her way.

"Ophelia's father [Polonius] loves his children, but he's also a politician, so he sacrifices them," said Curney. "That's why it doesn't work out so well for her in the end."

In constructing Ophelia, did she think of any present-day political daughters, like Chelsea Clinton or the Bush twins?

"Oh, God, don't say that I've built these characters on these women," said Curney. "They have mothers. If you don't have anyone to model yourself after, except maybe the queen in an abstract way, then it doesn't matter how bright you are. There's a kind of emotional and spiritual stunting."

Finding character's humanity

"Hamlet" has been interpreted in a variety of ways by different directors and actors. In the play, the ghost of Hamlet's father appears to tell him how he died. That part of the story, of Hamlet's uncle's illegitimate rise to power, has resonated in different eras.

Fontana has let those big questions be. He is focused instead on knocking the role out of the park. Part of his challenge is endurance. While the Guthrie has staged "Hamlet" three times before, prior performances have alternated with other shows that were running in repertory. Not this time. Fontana has followed a verbal and physical workout regimen (running, yoga, African dance classes).

"I had lunch [in New York] with Zeljko Ivanek, who played [Hamlet] in 1988," said Fontana. "The first thing he said, was, 'Eight times a week, that's not possible. It's never been done before.' And Joe said, 'No, but you're young.' "

Fontana has worked closely with vocal coach Andrew Wade to do close readings of his character. "He raised my awareness of his humanity and his state of mind in the text," said Fontana. "For example, there are words that come up over and again, like to/too/two, that show his state of mind. That sound -- 'two months dead,' 'to be or not to be,' 'to suffer' -- shows that he keeps trying to find the verb. Then 'to/too/two' becomes 'do/dew.' He is no longer searching and knows what he needs to do. That shift in language helps tell me his shift as a person."

Isn't there a danger of relying on text clues?

"Yes, you can get too righteous with them, like you've figured them out," said Fontana. "I can never figure them out. Joe wants me to keep my awareness of all these things and just play. We'll tell the same story, but it's like a band. We play it like jazz."

Hamlet

What: By William Shakespeare. Directed by Joe Dowling.

When: 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Thu. Ends May 7.

Where: Guthrie Theater, 725 Vineland Pl., Mpls.

Tickets: $15-$50. 612-377-2224, or www.guthrietheater.org.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390