Greg Aldrich as Horatio and Chuck Dufano as Osric -- the only characters who know the whole truth of Hamlet's sad story -- perfectly balanced the former's angst against the latter's desire to simply go along.
Similarly, Chris Carpenter as the ghost of Claudius and Doreen Loring as the ghost of Gertrude are excellent together as they struggle to overcome their lust and convince Fortinbras to bury them in a more appropriate manner.
It's another pair of ghosts, however, who steal the show. As the ghost of Polonious, Bill Gerlits shines in the first act without saying a word (Polonious is still repenting his propensity for advice-giving when he was alive), and is even better when he breaks his silence in act two.
As a lusty, embittered Ophelia, Haworth enlivens every scene in which she appears. The actress navigates Ophelia's shifting moods and efforts to manipulate both the living and the dead with zeal; her manic smile as she spars with Fortinbras and the ghost of Hamlet (Alex Stansky) is indelible.
Stansky's Hamlet inexplicably spends much of the play as a televised image. Though the anachronism is extremely odd, the cast and crew pull off the effect quite nicely. Hamlet's emergence from the TV is less successful, but it is a relief to set the whole plot point aside.
In the title role, Olsen is charismatic, but most successful when he holds the stage alone (indeed, his first soliloquy includes what may be the play's most amusing line). His timing with other actors is occasionally off, but in general, he occupies the play's central spot successfully.
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