I am currently playing Hamlet in “Hamlet” – an absolute dream come true. The Oakland Theater Project production, directed by the brilliant Michael Moran, features a cast of 23 (!) and runs through September 21st. Tickets and more information can be found here.
Some fun Hamlet links:
A video interview of me discussing the play
A video trailer for the production
A podcast interview I did about Hamlet and my artistic roots.
I was profiled by the San Francisco Chronicle in the lead-up to the production. We dish on family, growing up creative, and all things Hamlet.
Here’s what the critics had to say about my performance:
“Dean Linnard’s extraordinary performance as Hamlet portrays the raw explosion of mixed feelings through movement and facial expressions: … the lightning quick, frenzied movements, the psychotic break–the earnest angst to do the right thing. But what is that? Is he truly crazy? “To Be or Not to Be,” or both.” Patricia L Morin, Front Row Review
“As Hamlet, Dean Linnard uses his elastic face and vocal dexterity to take us to new heights. Linnard runs the scales, from shocking sounds that channel his dead father to the pitch of a doomed man who fears for the safety of his beloved. Linnard’s comic timing and physical genius reveal an actor in control of detail and technique. Linnard delivers Hamlet’s beloved soliloquies with precision and passion. Clarity, thy name is Linnard.” Jenyth Jo, Theatrius
“Dean Linnard boldly paints the struggles of the title character in mellifluous iambic pentameter … He pivots vocal registers like a one-man band. In death-haunted, centuries-old words, he finds comedy and contemporary inflections that reach a welcoming hand out to Shakespeare newbies … Linnard’s eyes are deeply set, evoking the skull Hamlet famously clutches, yet they blaze with life.” Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
