Known for supporting roles, OKC actor seizes skull and soliloquies to play Hamlet
Perhaps proving the truth of the Shakespearean line "to thine own self be true," Kaleb Michael Bruza is stepping into one of the foremost leading man roles in Western theater, after years of building up his career playing supporting parts.
Skull in hand and soliloquies at the ready, the Oklahoma City actor will play the title role in Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park's new production of "Hamlet."
"To go from such lean opportunities for a couple of years due to pande-mania and then really come back and get arguably the largest role in the Shakespearean canon ... it's a lot. And it's very exciting," Bruza said.
Directed by Rex Daugherty, "Hamlet" will close Oklahoma Shakespeare's outdoor season in its Shakespeare Gardens in the Paseo Arts District with performances Sept. 9-24. After "Hamlet," the venerable company will move inside for the remainder of 2022, staging Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" Oct. 21-Nov. 5 and "Jane Austen's Christmas Cracker" Dec. 9-23 in its Paseo Indoor Black Box theater.
"I've used different editions to piece together this script ... so this piece will focus really on just the family and the people in their wake — and how everyone is caught up in this power grab," said Daughtery, an OKC native now based in Washington, D.C.
"Hamlet is the person who dares to speak truth to power. It takes him a long time to find the courage to do that — but that's because it's a dangerous thing. It's not because he's a wimp; it's because it could cost him his life. We're seeing that in our nation now. For me, coming from D.C., it's just so prevalent in what's happening nationally right now."
'Hamlet' to be set in modern times with innovative movement
The director said he opted to set his "Hamlet" in contemporary times.
"The costumes will be modern, the sound is going to have a digital, driving, almost haunted soundscape. So, it's not going to feel like an Elizabethan holding the skull; it's going to feel very lived in," said Daugherty, who previously directed Oklahoma Shakespeare's 2019 production of Lauren Gunderson’s play “The Book of Will.”
"With Hamlet asking these big questions, we want to make it as relatable as possible so that we recognize ourselves in this piece. Whether or not we're caught up in a revenge tragedy, we're certainly caught up in indecision — and we're caught up in what do you do when life disappoints you and you feel like you have no options?"
Roving from a ghost story and psychological drama to a political epic and family saga, "Hamlet" follows the titular protagonist, the Prince of Denmark, as he comes home from college to find his father dead, his newly widowed mother Gertrude (Elizabeth Townsend) remarried to his uncle, newly crowned King Claudius (Wil Rogers), and a spooky apparition roaming the palace grounds.
"Rex is ... really approaching this piece with inspiration. He's building in these really inspired movement sequences that are akin to Steven Hoggett," Bruza said, referring to the Tony-nominated choreographer who has worked on titles like "Once" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."
"This is not just Hamlet straight up: It's Hamlet ... really playing (up) the comedy of it. Hamlet's a witty guy, and he makes a lot of jokes throughout. And that can sometimes get lost in the other side of Hamlet, the mopey, emo sad boy."
'Hamlet' actor approaching the role 'one soliloquy at a time'
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bruza found that his full-time acting career suddenly was "not to be."
"In early 2020, things were going very well. I had been full-time freelancing for about four years at that point. I had just done a Game Stop photoshoot and had just done 'Cat in the Hat' at Lyric (Theatre). I was also doing their Lyric interactive program that goes throughout the state. So, I finally could breathe a little bit with just, 'OK, I've got steady contracts right now. This is working.' And then all performance opportunities came to a screeching halt," he said.
"I had to do some weird gigs: I would drive down to Sulphur, Oklahoma, to work on a cannabis farm a few days a week ... and I worked at a law firm downtown for a year. I've just kind of been all over the place, but I'm starting to settle back into the world of freelance performing — and really hitting the ground running."
On central Oklahoma stages, Bruza has made an impression in supporting roles like Mr. Cratchit in "A Christmas Carol" at Lyric Theatre, Ed in "Evil Dead: The Musical” at Guthrie's Pollard Theatre and Feste in "Twelfth Night" for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. Before he was cast in "Hamlet," arguably his largest local theater part was playing opposite Linda McDonald in Carpenter Square Theatre's 2013 production of Jeffrey Hatcher's two-person comedy "Mrs. Mannerly."
Although he's also busily planning his wedding, Bruza eagerly seized the high art-opportunity to play the title role in one of William Shakespeare's most acclaimed, enduring and quoted titles. Taking on Hamlet means delivering such famous lines as "To sleep, perchance to dream," "The rest is silence" and "To be, or not be, that is the question."
"I'm just taking it one day at a time — and one soliloquy at a time. The soliloquies are actually coming to me faster than the scene work. We've been really mindful of trying to foster a friendly relationship between Hamlet and the audience, because he has so many speeches to no one but the audience," Bruza said.
"It really is approaching the audience as a confidante in this secret moment. ... It's really refreshing and cathartic for these characters to have a moment where, 'OK, all of that pomp and courtly whatever is behind me. So now, it's real-talk time. It's just me and you, so let's chat, audience.'"
'HAMLET'
When: Sept. 9-24.
Where: Shakespeare Gardens, 2920 Paseo.
Information and tickets: https://www.okshakes.org.
Features Writer Brandy "BAM" McDonnell has covered Oklahoma's arts, entertainment and cultural sectors for The Oklahoman for 20 years. Reach her at bmcdonnell@oklahoman.com, www.facebook.com/brandybammcdonnell and twitter.com/BAMOK. Support her work by signing up for her See & Do Oklahoma newsletter and subscribing to The Oklahoman.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: A modern 'Hamlet' will close Oklahoma Shakespeare's outdoor season
