Tom McCamus, Chick Reid (1991 Hamlet's Room)
Excerpt from Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project 1991: Tom McCamus & Chick Reid (Nicole Carter in "Blood Ties")
Hamlet's Room
Date of First Production 1991
Title Hamlet's Room
Director Neil Munro
Production Company Theatre Plus Toronto
Cast/Performers
Hamlet: Tom McCamus
Ophelia: Brenda Robins
Bernardo: Damon D'Oliveira
Marcellus: Richard Binsley
Horatio: Ephraim Hylton
Claudius: Benedict Campbell
Gertrude: Barbara Gordon
Polonius: Al Kozlik
Laertes: Patrick Galligan
Ghost: Benedict Campbell
Rosencrantz: Chick Reid
Guildenstern: Pamela Sinha
The Player King: Benedict Campbell
The Player Queen: Kate Trotter
An Intellectual: Ian MacDonald
Palace Security: Antony Audain and Conrad Coates
© Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts 6/27/91: Tom McCamus, Chick Reid
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts
Today we look at the famous 1991 Theatre Plus production, Hamlet. Many people know the show as “Hamlet’s Room”. Directed by Neil Munro (who won a Dora for it), this groundbreaking adaptation all takes place in Hamlet’s bedroom. “To Be or Not To Be” is delivered as a stand-up routine. Hamlet is a coke addict.
....
Tom McCamus played the melancholy Dane and had support from Brenda Robins, Richard Binsley, Benedict Campbell, Patrick Galligan, Barbara Gordon, Chick Reid (but doesn’t she always support him?), and Kate Trotter, among others.
© St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts
Excerpt from Toronto Star 7/22/09: Tom McCamus
Music makes one festival grow stronger
By Richard Ouzounian Theatre Critic
It's true that I disagreed with much of Munro's later work, but his 1991 direction of Hamlet's Room at Theatre Plus remains one of the most inventive productions I have ever seen. Whole scenes from it are still vividly in my memory 18 years later, while shows I went to last month have faded right away. My favourite? The impromptu jazz set that began Act II, climaxing with Tom McCamus (an inspired Hamlet) breaking into the theme from The Flintstones on the saxophone.
Excerpt from Toronto Star 11/15/09: Tom McCamus
Rand revels in his outrageous fortune: Necessary Angel's edgy, visceral Hamlet `works in a primitive way,' lead actor says
By Richard Ouzounian Theatre Critic Published On Sun Nov 15 2009
It's one of the most familiar plays in the world, so modern productions have, over the years, tried valiantly to bring something new to Hamlet. Here's three that worked, and three that didn't:
THE GOOD
Hamlet's Room (1991): The late Neil Munro directed a mind-bending version with a superb Tom McCamus playing the saxophone, tapping out soliloquies on a computer and totally stretching the envelope.
© Toronto Star