Presented by the Sipat Lawin Ensemble as part of Karnabal Festival 2016, The Mousetrap: Anti-Hamlet is described as a performance “Weaving personal critique with the canonical Western text, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, three theatre-makers from Metro Manila eviscerate the rigours of classical theatre through irreverent intrusions of performance art, devised-theatre, DIY aesthetics, all within a self-imposed PHP 5,000.00 budget.” (Karnabal)
An alphabet of hookups and a deconstructed ‘Hamlet’ stand out at Karnabal Festival | Fiel Estrella
The easiest way to describe “Mousetrap” would be to say that it is a deconstructed adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. It takes its name, of course, from the play-within-a-play, and the “Anti” in the title is a vague indicator that this will not be your typical display of fake madness (or is it?) driven by grief from everyone’s favorite moody man-child. Loose in form, it features Aronson, Luarca, and Roque-Lumbres at times taking turns playing a single role, mostly that of Hamlet himself, giving powerful and nuanced performances of different versions of his soliloquies. A single performance of the play is done in up to three languages — Filipino, English, and Spanish — owing to the fact that Luarca is a translator.
Photos from Chelsea Manzano
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Shakespeare in the Philippines 