Another act of vandalism in downtown L.A. as Robert O'Hara defaces 'Hamlet' at the Taper

Playwright and manager Robert O’Hara has turned his puckish attraction to “Hamlet,” treating Shakespeare’s calamity not arsenic an august taste treasure that has held the world’s attraction for much than 400 years but arsenic a squeaky plaything that tin beryllium exploited for eccentric amusive and games.

It goes without saying that his caller adaptation of “Hamlet,” which had its premiere Wednesday astatine the Mark Taper Forum, isn’t for purists. But Shakespeare’s play tin withstand adjacent the astir brazen attack.

Oh, the brainsick stagings I’ve seen! None much truthful than the 1999 New York accumulation by show theorist and manager Richard Schechner that turned the play into a pop-cultural hallucination, featuring a weed-smoking Hamlet with a Jamaican lilt, ghostly reminders of Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple and a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern costumed arsenic rats.

By this standard, O’Hara is proceeding rather tamely. Some mightiness beryllium startled that his Hamlet (Patrick Ball from Max’s “The Pitt”) goes from pleasuring a lusty Ophelia (a gritty Coral Peña) successful nationalist to getting blistery and dense with his visiting assemblage buddy Horatio (Jakeem Powell). But O’Hara’s movie noir attack has precedent successful nary different than Laurence Olivier’s Academy Award-winning 1948 movie, inactive the astir prestigious surface adaptation of the play, nary substance however dated it mightiness look to america today.

To acceptable the mood, the adaptation begins with a rotation of cinematic credits. A expansive staircase dominates Clint Ramos’ set. The clean, gleaming surfaces permission an content of what Elsinore castle mightiness beryllium similar arsenic a coastal McMansion connected 1 of the “Real Housewives” series.

Footage of the oversea serves arsenic a lyrical backdrop. The mounting is much California than Denmark, but determination is dealt with subjectively successful a archetypal enactment that intimately follows Hamlet’s perspective. Projection decorator Yee Eun Nam shifts the temper arsenic Hamlet meets the shade of his begetter connected surface (Joe Chrest) and past spirals into a mania that’s accompanied by surreal ocular flourishes that look indebted to the Netflix bid “Stranger Things.”

Patrick Ball and Coral Peña successful “Hamlet” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Jeff Lorch)

The production, which runs 2 hours, is performed without intermission. O’Hara’s audacious antics are stimulating astatine first, but there’s not capable melodramatic involvement to prolong specified a grueling journey.

The archetypal two-thirds of the adaptation connection a speedy run-through of tragic events. The actors astatine times look to beryllium speed-reading their lines, rushing done the notoriously agelong play to get to the bully bits. O’Hara simplifies vocabulary, reassigns lines and excises parts that don’t involvement him, but different sticks to Shakespeare’s template.

The revisions successful language, done for reasons of accessibility, diminish the poetry. Shakespeare tin beryllium ridiculously obscure to modern audiences but tweaking specified a well-known play is similar changing lyrics successful a revival of “Oklahoma!” The connection substitutions beryllium jarring adjacent erstwhile they’re not veering disconnected into raunchy slang. (I’ll forgo mentioning the prime verbiage O’Hara employs erstwhile Hamlet, confronting his parent successful her chamber, becomes enraged by the show of her unsavory marital bed.) The clumsy usage of voice-overs is much embarrassing still.

But these are superficial distractions successful a accumulation that hasn’t figured retired wherefore it’s revisiting Shakespeare’s play. O’Hara is successful a riffing mode. Outrageousness is an integral portion of his sensibility, arsenic his plays “Barbecue” and “Bootycandy” person made unabashedly clear.

As a director, helium enjoys boldly iconoclastic strokes whether staging caller work, specified arsenic Jeremy O. Harris’ “Slave Play,” oregon classical drama, specified arsenic Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin successful the Sun.” But successful “Hamlet” helium seems contented to artifact astir with Shakespeare’s communicative without probing its miraculous depths.

In the last 3rd of this “Hamlet,” O’Hara takes the playwriting reins from Shakespeare and invents a caller character, Detective Fortinbras, a gumshoe fixer successful a trench coat, who comes successful to analyse the tragedy’s spree of fatalities. Brought successful by the committee to shield the Elsinore Picture Corp. from damaging publicity, helium sets retired to find what truly happened, lone to concoct a plausible communicative that won’t get the institution canceled.

Hamlet, it is explained aft his death, was an overage movie pupil pursuing “an over-budget play movie noir portion of crap.” And each the speech astir succession and the throne seems to person been astir firm power wrong a cartoonishly messed-up family.

Who knew?

I won’t spoil each the humorous details, but the intermittent amusement can’t conceal the cardinal incoherence of O’Hara’s project. The level of creator self-indulgence connected show is impressive. “Hamlet” volition past arsenic volition O’Hara, but I’m little assured astir the Taper.

What pleasures determination are to beryllium obtained from this ill-conceived “Hamlet” are fleeting. The actors proviso astir of them. Ball, prancing handsomely astir the signifier successful a leather overgarment and see-through nine shirt, leaves a stylish content erstwhile successful motion. But helium seems wholly adrift erstwhile speaking his lines. He inflects Hamlet’s glorious speeches with modern colour but small meaning. The substance becomes a straitjacket for a princely lad who doesn’t look accustomed to Shakespearean rigors.

Patrick Ball, left, and Ramiz Monsef successful “Hamlet” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Jeff Lorch)

Gina Torres’ Gertrude has nary specified trouble. She commands the signifier with rhetorical finesse, making it each the much disappointing that her quality isn’t much complexly deployed by O’Hara.

Peña’s formidable Ophelia mightiness beryllium the production’s redeeming grace. Fiercely independent, she answers to nary one’s morality but her own. I was delighted that she was granted a salient spot successful the adaptation’s 2nd act, but it’s a shame that, similar each the characters, she becomes a pawn successful O’Hara’s prankish plot.

If this statement seems harsh, possibly I should notation the cocaine revel Claudius (Ariel Shafir) instigates with the First Player (Jamie Lincoln Smith), Polonius (Ramiz Monsef) and a mentation of Rosencrantz (Ty Molbak) and Guildenstern (Danny Zuhlke) who would beryllium close astatine location successful a “Dumb and Dumber” movie. These nimble performers gamely emergence to the occasion, but the comic adrenaline astatine this constituent has a numbing effect.

If you’re going to bash “Hamlet,” astatine slightest probe immoderate of the play’s motivation and intelligence mysteries. O’Hara is much drawn to the crippled puzzles that person encouraged interpreters to measurement successful with their ain crackpot notions. He would person been amended advised to bash what James Ijames did successful his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Fat Ham” — respond to Shakespeare’s classical done a wholly autonomous enactment of art.

Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” provokes endless fascination precisely due to the fact that of its unresolved nature. T.S. Eliot famously called Shakespeare’s calamity “the ‘Mona Lisa’ of literature.” O’Hara does small much than graffiti a mustache connected this inexhaustible theatrical canvas.