Review: ‘Hamnet’ breathes life into circumstances that helped inspire one of the greatest plays ever written

Some 430 years after his death, Shakespeare’s son Hamnet is having a moment. Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 book about the Bard’s first wife, Agnes Hathaway, and the plague death of their 11-year-old boy Hamnet is the basis of both an Oscar-nominated movie and an award-winning stage drama.

In a moving, compelling production, the stage adaptation by Lolita Chakrabarti is making its North American premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in a co-production with Stratford-on-Avon’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Neal Productions.

Hamnet Shakespeare died in 1596, about five years before his father’s epic tragedy “Hamlet” premiered. O’Farrell’s book revealed the deep connective tissue between the tragedy of “Hamlet” and the tragedy of Hamnet — names that were seen as identical in 16th-century England. Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of the book captures tragedy and comedy, breathing life into the circumstances that helped inspire one of the greatest plays ever written.

Director Erica Whyman shapes a story where warmth and compassion are wrapped around a deep well of sorrow, threaded with flashes of raging passion and passionate rage. Like “Hamlet,” “Hamnet” is a tragedy where romance curdles amid devastation, comedy blooms until tragedy snuffs it and somehow ends with hope. It’s a biting rom-com early on, a quill-to-the-heart later. “Hamnet” is also graced with snippets from Shakespeare’s plays — Whyman’s ensemble cast makes the words pierce and sing.

The production has an ethereal glow to it, opening on a pair of whispering, spectral children who punctuate the drama like waking dreams. That same luminosity infuses William (Rory Alexander) and Agnes’ (Kemi-Bo Jacobs) first meeting.

Alexander and Jacobs have scalding chemistry from the moment they lock eyes. They might be talking about kestrels, but the subtext and innuendo are thick enough to cut with a rapier. (Speaking of: Like most Shakespeare plays, there’s a killer swordfighting scene in “Hamnet.”) Their journey of loving, grieving, shattering and (maybe) recovering unfolds between London and Stratford over the course of the production.

Jacobs travels an epic arc as wild joy is overcome by unbearable sorrow. She holds nothing back, cycling through arcs of ecstasy to agony and back, each step ringing true. Agnes is thought to be a witch by the townsfolk in Stratford; it’s a dangerous rumor given that tens of thousands of women were executed for witchcraft in Europe between the late 16th and the early 17th centuries. William and Agnes couldn’t care less — they’re gloriously ardent, soulmates who won’t be told otherwise.

But William’s capacity for love is matched by his capacity for world-building, and the two compete for primacy. The love of his life isn’t just Agnes, it’s also his work. The twined priorities come with a steep price.

As Hamnet, (Ajani Cabey) takes on some of the most moving passages in “Hamlet.” His delivery of a slice from Hamlet’s second act soliloquy (“What a piece of work is man”) is remarkably moving — so much so that you’ll want nothing more to see Burke perform the role in its entirety.

There’s a similar moment with Nigel Barrett, playing Shakespearean actor Will Kempe playing “Bottom” in a rehearsal for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Barrett’s depiction of the rustic-turned-ass is so funny you don’t want the rehearsal to end. Barrett is also notable as Will’s abusive, impoverished, glovemaker father John. His declaration that glovemaking is God’s work is bloviating at its comical best.

But there’s always another side to the comedy in “Hamnet.” It’s exemplified in an early scene between Hamnet and his twin sister Judith (Saffron Dey) as they play a practical joke. It's a light-hearted moment, but as becomes clear much later, it foreshadows Hamnet’s agonized death with haunting specificity.

Tom Piper’s wood-and-rope set (he also did the understated, historically accurate costumes) bears the skeletal shape of Globe Theatre, owned partly by Shakespeare and built to stage his plays. Chicago Shakes’ Yard space has a similar configuration as the Globe — watching “Hamlet” unfold as a play-within-the-play feels like sitting on the other side of a mirror in a time machine.

Throughout, Oguz Kaplangi’s score and Ayse Tashkiran’s movement design help make the production its often ethereal feel. Scenes don’t change so much as they dissolve and emerge like fever dreams.

Not all is perfect: The closed captioning on either side of the stage is helpful — there are thick accents at work — but having to toggle between stage and screen disrupts the drama’s intensity. If you aren’t already familiar with the story of Hamnet, Will and Agnes, the early, atmospheric scenes will take a moment to make narrative sense.

O’Farrell’s book is historical fiction. Chakrabarti’s adaptation captures both real and speculative worlds with power and heart. Both are more than evident at Chicago Shakes.