Chapter 4: Hamlet, El Príncipe de Denmark by Tara Moses

HAMLET IN OKLAHOMA: HAMLET: EL PRÍNCIPE DE DENMARK

In contrast, Tara Moses’s (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Mvskoke) 2018 production of Hamlet: El Príncipe de Denmark at telatúlsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, encompassed a decolonial praxis for the Latinx Shakespearean stage. A decolonial praxis involves a reclaiming of land and space; physically, the space of the stage was given to Indigenous rituals and storytellers, and thematically, Hamlet’s journey involved a move toward his Indigenous roots as the play progressed. According to Emma Pérez, the decolonial imaginary is “a rupturing space, the alternative to that which is written in history.” Breaking the play open from its contemporary performance history, Moses’s version moved at a quick pace with no blackouts or intermissions, and her script includes detailed descriptions of the seamless transitions between scenes. Moses still has Hamlet die, but Ophelia lives, and it is Ophelia rather than Polonius who says, “This above all: to thine own self be true,” which she addresses to the audience at the play’s end to urge them to evaluate their own interiority. Whereas with Hamlet, Prince of Cuba, the rehearsals became a borderlands space for linguistic healing for the cast, for this telatúlsa production, healing began in the dramaturgy itself, specifically the interplay of theater and ritual, which shifted Hamlet from a revenge tragedy to communion with the dead. (p. 122-123)