UWM’s Hamlet Explores the Tragic Hero’s Internal Struggle While Combating COVID

A young prince chases the apparition of his father through a dark and dilapidated forest. The phantom demands that the prince avenges his death by killing his murdered, his dear brother Claudius before he disappears into a giant, rotting tree. Ariana Manghera, 21, plays the character of Hamlet in the first two acts, sharing the role with Dan Byrne-Szafoni, and Stefano Peralma.

“It was definitely fun getting to play a more sensitive side of Hamlet in the first two acts. He’s very in tune with his emotions and his feelings,” said Manghera, a junior at UWM.” Getting to play a historically only male part. But bringing that femininity to him and not losing the character was a really fun experience for me.”

Hamlet is one of the first performances by the Peck School of the Arts to be entirely in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic.  The show takes an unusual approach with its source material as the lack of a specific backdrop was replaced with a more abstracted design. The play’s costumes and set are supposed to reflect Hamlet’s inner anguish and conflict.

Complying with UWM’s COVID-19 regulations, the actors and stage crew have to keep their masks on at all times. Elena Behnki, a junior at UWM, who plays Rosencrantz, talked about her experiences on the shows during that time.

“We couldn’t have an audience. And we had to film it individually by scenes, which was kind of a sad experience, because, like, there was nobody clapping when it was funny,” said Behnki, “Now, it’s not the same because we can touch each other. And we can, like really connect, especially in Hamlet, there are so many different dynamics between different people.”

Bill Watson, the director of the show and chair of the theatre department, explained some of the challenges that masks presented.

“If you start to draw attention to this by like, having an actor drink out of a glass, there’s this absurdity to it,” said Watson. “You’re not really able to get all of what’s going on, but it doesn’t feel like ultimately, that’s held anything back.”

While students at the Peck School of Arts remain masked up for their performances, many of UWM’s athletic teams, such as the Milwaukee Panthers, are maskless during their games. The theatre department has requested a petition for the university administration to investigate the possibility of removing masks for live performances.

“How do you hold it trumpet up to your lips, right? If you got to wear a mask?” said Watson.

“The leniency that they have with athletics versus the arts is definitely a huge issue, to begin with,” said Manghera. “Seeing someone’s flushed face while they’re running a marathon isn’t as important as seeing someone going through a painful situation or a joyful situation.”

During the Sunday matinee, 20 students from the Interpreter Training Program (ITP) at UWM will be interpreting the show, as part of a nearly five-year collaboration between ITP and the Theatre Department. Ralph Janes, a senior lecturer at the theatre department who oversaw the project, explained that there had been a growth in the debate about levels of accessibility coming out of the pandemic.

About five years ago, a fire damaged the main theatre, which allowed the department to add wheelchair accessibility during the remodel. While there have been strides towards providing accessibility options for the differently-abled, the theatre department is not funded well enough for a mass overhaul.

“We are in the process of discussing [accessibility] at our faculty level while looking potentially at a hybrid model going forward so that we retain the live aspects. “said Janes. “But we increase our accessibility through not only through things like this ASL/ITP collaboration but also by streaming or, you know, live capturing wherever possible.”