Many audience members were perplexed when they first walked into Wesleyan’s Patricelli ’92 Theater. The space was completely empty save for a dozen or so chairs. The seating configuration was far from traditional: some of the audience sat in the limited number of chairs, others sat on the floor, and one group stood in the back. Once the audience was situated, they were again surprised when the theater began to darken. Rather than just “fading to black,” automated black shades rolled down over the windows of the theater. Totally immersed in darkness and thus shut away from the outside world, the audience was finally ready to enter the world of Elsinore and watch the story of “Hamlet” unfold.

“The show is full of surprises,” said Solomon Billinkoff ’14, who played both Rosencrantz and the Gravedigger.

“Hamlet,” directed by S. Dylan Zwickel ’14, certainly kept the audience on edge throughout the show. Unlike most Second Stage productions, “Hamlet” had four performances between Thursday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25, as well as an invite-only preview on Wednesday, April 23, which also happened to be the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth (and 398th anniversary of his death!). Each performance allowed for only 50 attendants and tickets sold out within minutes of the box office opening. Shakespeare enthusiasts jumped at the chance to see this classic play come to life at Wesleyan, while others wanted to support the cast, which included actors of all class years and widely varying theater experience. Everyone wanted to see Zwickel’s fifth and final production at Wesleyan.

Zwickel embarked on this project knowing that it was a huge risk.

“People laughed at me when I said I wanted to do ‘Hamlet,’” Zwickel said. “Everyone said, ‘You can’t do ‘Hamlet.’ It’s ‘Hamlet.’”

Despite the skeptics, Zwickel took on the challenge of “Hamlet,” one of her favorite shows.

“It’s almost more fun to go into something knowing it’s absolutely insane because there’s not this pressure to have it be perfect,” Zwickel said. “It just has to be our interpretation of it.”

Zwickel’s unique interpretation of this classic play was apparent from the moment the audience entered the theater. She took creative license by cutting this four-hour play in half and rearranging the order of select scenes. She was well aware that these major changes could be disastrous and poorly received by Shakespeare purists. However, this show is Zwickel’s swan song, and she wanted to exit on a memorable note.

“I would rather have it go down in flames than be mediocre,” she said.

The final product was far from average. One of the most intriguing aspects of Zwickel’s vision was that it was so site-specific to the ’92.

“The concept is the ’92 Theater is Elsinore. So you move around this castle that is a theater,” Zwickel explained. “It uses the stage, it uses the balcony, and it uses the trap that no one else knew existed, which has never been opened before by students.”

Zwickel’s fervent desire to present her final show in this particular theater and utilize all of its capabilities is rooted in her deep attachment to the ’92. She has spent much of her time at Wesleyan in this one theater doing what she loves the most.

“The ’92 has very much been my home over the last four years,” she said.

Although the performance is site-specific, it is not set in a particular time period as most modern adaptations of Shakespeare are.

“Our point was about humanity and people and things that are totally timeless,” Zwickel explained. “So our production is timeless. There’s absolutely no attempted period.”

This creative vision, however, could not be fully realized without the presence of audience members who were not stagnant viewers but were rather active participants in the show.

“I think the piece will come to its fullest potential and fruition when we have an audience,” predicted Sarah Woolf ’16, who played Gertrude.

Thanks to the stealthy run crew, the audience never missed a moment of the dynamic performance; the crew members silently reconfigured chairs during scenes and then seamlessly guided the audience to new locations around the ’92 as the actors moved around the space. As an audience member, it was thrilling to watch such an unpredictable show. Many viewers may have known the plot of “Hamlet,” but each moment was made new and exciting due to the location changes. Some may have found this constant movement disorienting, but it did keep the audience engaged in the performance.

Though most shows consist of scenes seamlessly strung together to create one cohesive piece, Zwickel’s “Hamlet” was composed of several vignettes that each had unique features; every scene told a distinct story that contributed to the overarching narrative. The audience left with vivid images of Hamlet played by Richie Starzec ’14, alone onstage with a single light bulb, meant to represent the ghost of his deceased father. He later hid behind a post intently whispering the famous “To Be or Not to Be” monologue with a conviction that had the audience clinging to his every word.

Starzec arguably had the most onerous task in assuming the title role, and his acting was delightful to watch. He thrived in each moment, working off the other actors and audience members while also exploring the space itself. He played with other actors’ costumes, interacted with individual audience members, and scaled the walls of the ’92, all of which added an element of spontaneity to a role that required such intensive preparation.

“The process was just as fun as it was stressful,” wrote Starzec in an email to The Argus. “The lines were the biggest challenge. There were so many cuts made and it was still a seemingly impossible feat.”

Although it was often difficult to stop watching Starzec, whose commitment to the part resulted in an exhilarating performance that kept the audience constantly awaiting his next move, many supporting characters took turns stealing the spotlight. Zwickel made some surprising choices with casting. The cast consisted of actors of all class years who have extremely varied theater backgrounds. Several actors are theater majors, others have never been in a Wesleyan production, and one actor, Zacko Brint ’16, had no acting experience. Brint described how Zwickel helped calm his nerves about his first live performance.

“We walked home one day and I asked, ‘What if my nerves just go?’ She said, ‘You’re a tennis player. What do you do before a tennis match?’ I said, ‘I do this, this, and this.’ She said, ‘Do it! And go out and have fun. If you mess up, just keep going.’”

Several cast members found the show to be an extremely difficult undertaking.

“I think it’s the most demanding role I’ve done other than maybe the faculty show,” said Brett Keating ’15, who played Claudius, the story’s antagonist. “He’s such a conniving, powerful, deliberate ruler.”

Shakespearean acting has traditionally been extremely presentational; actors often overdramatize their emotions and gestures rather than truly living in the moment as they might in another playwright’s work. But since the actors in this production performed so close to the audience, they were forced to pull away from the classical dramatic style in favor of closer, more subtle acting. Rather than explicitly emoting evil, for instance, Keating as Claudius wore a Machiavellian smile and spoke with a pretentious tone, feigning a confidence that concealed his vulnerability and his fear of his malicious deeds being uncovered.

Anya Sproule ’14, who played Ophelia, Nate Gardner ’17, who played Laertes, and Woolf each had emotionally taxing roles. At the end of the scene in which Hamlet murders Polonious, it is revealed that Ophelia was hidden behind a curtain and witnessed her father’s death. This moment is not written in the play, but rather was created by Zwickel. Sproule’s anguish was so apparent that it evoked a visceral reaction in the audience; many gasped when Gertrude pulled back the curtain revealing Ophelia crumpled on the floor heaving with silent sobs. Both Laertes and Gertrude were brought to hysterics over the death of Ophelia several scenes later. Gardner’s and Woolf’s raw emotion was palpable as they cried genuine tears. Gardner lashed out violently and other actors needed to exert real force to hold him down. The actors let these powerful emotions manifest naturally rather than artificially presenting them, a technique that made this show particularly special.

This unique performance of “Hamlet” was a celebration of both Shakespeare’s timeless work and Zwickel’s Wesleyan legacy.

“People have been doing this play and it’s been one of the most lauded plays in history for over four hundred years, and it would be ridiculous to try to live up to that,” Zwickel said. “Instead, we have to make it our own. It really freed us up to play with it and be like, ‘This is going to be our “Hamlet.”’”

Zwickel’s final chapter in Second Stage history will be remembered as an impressive attempt to take on a seemingly untouchable text and as a successful rendering of a creative and collaborative vision that was executed by an incredible cast and crew. Those who were lucky enough to experience Zwickel’s “Hamlet” at Wesleyan can only await, with baited breath, news of her theatrical adventures in the wider world next year. If they’re anything like her final effort here, she is sure to find success.