The Hamlet Project

The Osric, in the production I was in ages ago, was played by a woman. I’m thinking about that now because I’m thinking about how these power dynamics would be so complicated by gender. In that production, her Osric didn’t seem to be really gendered. He was just a fop – a Monty Python character with an American accent. And our Hamlet was about her same size. They looked like brother and sister. (Did they play Sebastian and Viola in our accompanying Twelfth Night? I’m actually pretty sure they did, yes.)

But – if the size differential had been bigger, if Osric wore a dress..I don’t know – all these fun orders would read a lot differently.