Beck Lloyd is portraying Ophelia in Hamlet at Canadian Stage’s Dream in High Park. Directed by Jessica Carmichael, the production features Qasim Khan as Hamlet, along with Prince Amponsah (Barnardo), Raquel Duffy (Gertrude), Christo Graham (Guildenstern), Stephen Jackman-Torkoff (Horatio), Sam Khalilieh (Polonius), Breton Lalama (Marcellus), Dan Mousseau (Laertes), Amelia Sargisson (Rosencrantz), James Dallas Smith (Ghost), and Diego Matamoros as Claudius.
Amidst a chaotic swirl of political scheming and family betrayal, the story centres on Hamlet, the anguished Prince of Denmark, as he seeks to avenge his father’s murder by his uncle Claudius, who has seized the throne and married Hamlet’s mother. In the process, he confronts profound dilemmas about existence, mortality and vengeance. In its 41-year history, Hamlet has been performed at the annual Dream in High Park series just once before. And the current production serves as a companion to Canadian Stage’s eagerly anticipated Canadian premiere of James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fat Ham.
Lloyd’s portrayal of Ophelia (whom she colloquially calls “Oph”) is memorable for her ability to embody the conflicting tensions of the internal sparring with external. She brings to the role experience that is wide-ranging and extensive — including moderating the Stratford Festival’s YouTube panel Black Like Me: Behind The Stratford Festival Curtain, and creating And Introducing… with Stratfest@Home. Lloyd holds an MFA in Performance from York University, teaches acting, text, and Shakespeare across Ontario, and is a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre.
“This is my first time working in the park, and it feels extra special to be back in Toronto,” she smiles. “I’m surrounded by a cast filled with folks I love, and folks I have been dying to get to know. And Jess [Charmichael] has curated a magnificent cut of Hamlet that somehow seems to encapsulate more—more depth, more story, more horror. Working on it has been an extraordinary process.”
Beck’s connection to Ophelia was both immediate and profound. “My first day of rehearsal (I actually missed the formal Day One, as I was stuck in an airport in Frankfurt), I did an embodied movement exercise with Jess, and Oph really showed up immediately,” she recalls. “We were lucky in that we had been meeting over Zoom—maybe twice?—to read cut versions prior to Rehearsal One, which provided some nice marinating. Oph is not, in my opinion, a naïve woman without agency. So some of this process has been collecting my proof of this—I feel lucky, in that I have been met with artistic curiosity and a sense of YES.”
For Lloyd, the specific line of dialogue that captures Ophelia’s essence is, “And we cast away moan —…no more.” When you come to the show, she urges that you “listen for it!!!”
What sets this production apart, in her view, is its unique approach to adapting Shakespeare for the park. “The mandatory length of a show in the park requires making cuts to a Shakespearean script, and this is always difficult.” Carmichael’s script “seems to cut out and plaster grief all over the hearts of our characters”. This thematic emphasis yields a “refreshing singular focus that allows an audience to stretch and shadow with the story in ways I am still hungrily learning about”.
Put that way, it is easy – obvious even – to view Hamlet not as a philosophizing ditherer, for whom words get in the way of action, but as a man grieving the untimely loss of his father. Cast in this light, all of his actions, with all their ramifications — even his seeming rejection of Ophelia and murder of her father – make sense. Likewise, Ophelia’s madness (if indeed, this is what it is) is spurred by “the poison of deep grief” (Act 4, iv). As discussed in the SesayArts review of the show, Carmichael’s direction substantially enlarges Ophelia’s role and stage presence, and magnifies and mirrors Hamlet and Ophelia’s dual grief. This focus illuminates the nature and effects of grief – which is at once individual, societal, and natural — and what happens when people are denied sufficient space and opportunity to mourn.
In closing, Lloyd extends a warm invitation to see the production: “Welcome! All are welcome to witness this story. Try and feel something (really try!!!),” she urges. “Surrender to discovery and release explanation. And, of course, say hi!”
The annual Dream in High Park series is a beloved Toronto summer tradition: a charming way for audiences of all ages to experience Shakespeare at twilight in the verdant glen that houses the High Park Amphitheatre. Hamlet continues until September 1, 2024. Reserve tickets on canadianstage.com.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2024
