Shakespeare in Clark Park presents Hamlet, adapted by Tai Verley and Cassandra Alexander

Opening my eyes and taking in the sights and sounds of ordinary life happening in and around the Bowl in West Philly’s Clark Park, I felt reminded of what it might have felt like to be present at an original production of Hamlet. In the Elizabethan theater, vendors moved about selling food and drink, animals strolled in and out of the theater and audience members didn’t sit quietly but spoke back to the performers when they had something to say.

The rain held out Wednesday evening, and we witnessed the play unfold while dogs ran and fetched sticks not far behind the actors, children called out on the nearby playground and the sound of cars driving down Baltimore Avenue made its own kind of hum.

Transcending time and culture

In two decades of producing free outdoor Shakespeare, SCP has become adept at working with the human and natural elements that come with the territory. In Hamlet, director Shamus (SCP’s producing artistic director) utilizes the audience as part of the staging, extending the bounds of Elsinore’s castle and allowing Hamlet, Ophelia, and other characters to blend in with and become part of the crowd during their off-stage scenes. Sometimes the natural elements add dramatic effect: as the voice of the ghost of Hamlet’s father spoke on Wednesday evening, a strong wind blew through the tall trees surrounding the stage.

This Hamlet is produced by Shakespeare in Clark Park in collaboration with Revolution Shakespeare, another local company focusing on making Shakespeare’s work accessible and transformative. Driving this unique production (which runs a little under two hours) is the belief that though our contemporary lives are far away from life in Denmark in the Middle Ages (when scholars believe Hamlet is set), there is something in Hamlet’s internal struggles that transcends cultures and time.

Hamlet takes many forms

The role of Hamlet has belonged to some of the greatest actors in theater history—from Sarah Berhardt to Richard Burton, John Barrymore to Daniel Day-Lewis. In this production, adapters Verley and Cassandra Alexander write a version of the play in which the title role is shared.

The troubled prince is played by four multi-talented performers, Cassandra Alexander, Brittany Onukwugha, Minou Pourshariati and Dawn McCall, who switch quickly and fluidly between portraying Hamlet and the play’s other major roles, including Gertrude, Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, and King Claudius. With a simple change of a costume piece—a garland of flowers for Ophelia or a flowing robe for Gertrude—the changes occur quickly and seemingly effortlessly, though anyone who has worked behind the scenes on a Shakespeare play can imagine how much work went into rehearsals to create that effect.

Hamlet’s famous soliloquies are also portrayed with multiple actors taking the stage, each using their individual voices and physicality to embody his complex and contrasting emotions. It’s sort of like a Shakespearean version of the animated film Inside Out in which a young girl’s emotions are portrayed by distinct voice actors. It’s an innovative way to show what roils inside of Hamlet: fear and courage, lust and revulsion, purpose and hesitation.

The strength of this unique production comes from the vision of the artistic team who imagined a new way to portray a collective Hamlet and the team of designers and performers who execute this vision in a dynamic way. The production is full of fun moments that lift its heaviness, thanks to a talented ensemble of performers (Katie Frazer, Kendall Arrington, Christina M. Segarra, Paul Scheb, & Emile Wong) that hold all of the other important roles including Hamlet’s so-called friends, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, and the traveling players who stage a play within a play to catch the conscience of the King.

New and familiar

In its 21-year history, this is SCP’s first Hamlet, and it feels like they hit the timing especially right. The play’s been brought back into pop-culture consciousness with Hamnet, the 2025 film adaption of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel imagining how the death of Shakespeare’s young son may have inspired the writer’s portrayal of grief and despair in Hamlet.

In Taylor Swift’s lead track “The Fate of Ophelia” on her recent release The Life of a Showgirl, the pop star contrasts her own happy ending in love (with football player Travis Kelce) to Ophelia's tragic drowning. But maybe what makes the show feel so current is how the ruthless politics we’re living through make the machinations of King Claudius, who will kill his own brother to grab and maintain power, feel eerily familiar.

Still reimagining after 400 years

The sun started to set as the play’s final scene leaves Horatio alone to carry the story of what happened forward—the hope that the deaths won’t be in vain, that humans might learn from this tragic story of corruption. Bats flew overhead as people packed up their picnics and folded their chairs. The rain held out even while dark clouds loomed.

That a story written more than 400 years ago can stir something inside of us still, can continue to be reimagined, makes the work that goes into a production like SCP’s Hamlet so worthwhile. Close your eyes, envision yourself in a Medieval castle, listen to your heartbeat and the echo of ghosts who walk among us.

Make it down to Clark Park to witness the magic while you can (the rain location is Plays and Players Theatre; check SCP socials for day-of updates). The show happens nightly at 7pm through Sunday, August 2. BYO blankets, chairs, and picnic. The show is free with no reservations required, but donations are encouraged.