THEATER REVIEW:’Hamlet’ a masterwork at SCR

It took 43 years for South Coast Repertory to get around to staging “Hamlet,” not by accident but by design. The company chose to wait until all its creative stars were ideally aligned before attempting to scale this Everest of the theater.

It has been worth the wait. The current production of Shakespeare’s masterwork — familiar though it may be through countless nonprofessional thrusts and parries — strides brilliantly onto the theater’s Segerstrom Stage in a visceral assault on both the mind and the heart.

Director Daniel Sullivan has assembled what amounts to an all-star cast for his rendition of the classic tragedy of regicide and revenge. The production is populated top to bottom with sterling interpretations by actors eminently versed in classic theater.

The speeches, indeed, fall “trippingly off the tongue” as the SCR production weaves its way toward the inevitable bloodbath. “Hamlet” has produced more quotable lines than any half-dozen Shakespeare plays combined, probably including many not readily identified with this source.

In the title role of Denmark’s moody prince, who feigns madness as he plots to exact vengeance on the king who slew his father and married his mother, Hamish Linklater takes his performance superbly in two directions -- crazily when interacting with others, craftily when addressing the audience in almost a flat monotone (including, surprisingly, his “to be or not to be” speech). There lies both a madness in his method and a method in his madness, each skillfully detailed.

As the usurping King Claudius, Robert Foxworth underplays with alacrity, his scheming mind constantly churning as he mounts a counterattack geared toward eliminating this threat to his rule. Linda Gehringer is compelling as his wife, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, particularly during a traumatic sequence in which the first body falls.

That character, the verbose Polonius, is given a richly comic interpretation by the esteemed veteran actor and SCR veteran Dakin Matthews, who spews his platitudes with delicious verve and pomposity. The late king, Hamlet’s father, overshadows the action triumphantly in the chilly personage of Richard Doyle.

Polonius’ two children, Ophelia and Laertes, have scant stage time but command their scenes. Brooke Bloom is a haunting Ophelia, outstanding in her scene of emotional disrepair, while Graham Hamilton’s enraged Laertes is a fitting opponent for Hamlet in their climactic duel.

SCR stalwart Hal Landon Jr. excels in two assignments, first as the hammy player king and later as the jocular gravedigger. Michael Urie is staunch and moving as Hamlet’s ally, Horatio, while Henri Lubatti and Jeff Marlow shine as Hamlet’s chums Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Louis Lotorto is affably affected as Osric, master of the swords.

Scenic designer Ralph Funicello has fashioned a gigantic sun deck as the centerpiece of the setting, jutting out two or three rows into what once was audience seating. Ilona Somogyi’s costumes are most satisfying (especially Ophelia’s in her madness), while Pat Collins’ lighting effects and the thundering sound designs of Obadiah Eaves lend further credence to this singular achievement.

Theatergoers have been anticipating this “Hamlet” for the better part of a year now, and they will not be disappointed at the finished product on the stage of South Coast Repertory.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Hamlet”

WHERE: South Coast Repertory Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2:30 & 8, Sundays at 2:30 & 7 :30 until July 1

COST: $28 - $60

CALL: (714) 708-5555