Review: Teaching Hamlet (Wildside)

l-r Watson, Cutler

A Lesson on Fixations

Shakespeare simply reveals the actor's lot

By Byron Toben

Keir Cutler, the author/performer of eight widely performed monologues, strikes again, this time with a duologue, “Teaching Hamlet”. This wildly amusing show - aided and abetted with the appearance of Brett Watson and the directoral hand of Paul Hopkins - makes a fine book end to Cutler's “Teaching” series.

Review: Teaching Hamlet (Fringe 2011)

Reviewed by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

I have been a fan of Keir Cutler's solos for a long time (perhaps, even, since the first). The gentleman had truly mastered the form and has been recognized across the continent for doing so. But as I mentioned in a recent review, I am getting slightly tired of the solo as a staple of the Fringe and - poof! - Cutler shows up at this edition of the festival with a two-hander. This is a self-contained one-act play which relies on a good story and—especially—the give and take of solid actors who can fill the space and Cutler has found himself a hell of an accomplice in Brett Watson. The piece now is not so much about the writing but about how well these two play together.

EVENT: Teaching Hamlet (Fringe 2011)