Hamlet - 30 years ago

30 Years Ago on my cross country bicycle trip I was in Santa Maria, California, visiting a host of friends who were at PCPA (Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts) for the summer performing in plays that included "The Front Page", "Fiddler on the Roof", "The Moon is Blue", "As You Like It", and "Hamlet." I had been cycling up the coast from San Diego after helping my friends drive across the desert at Yuma. I felt in shape again, bearded and tan, but I hadn't known that riding south to north up California's coast meant that the wind would be against me most of the day. This had moved me to get up as early as possible for the winds didn't really pick up until around 10 am. And they could be strong.

For the past few days, though, I had taken a break and enjoyed a feast of theatre. Most of it had been very fine. I'd also gotten a slight crush on a dancer in the company, but dancers always had been my weakness. Nothing came of it which was just as well. The theatrical piece de resistance was their production of "Hamlet." The actor playing the title role, Danny Davis, had been one of the main actors in the American Conservatory Theatre where I had been a member of the conservatory from 1976 through 1978. (Most of my friends at PCPA had been my classmates.) Danny had always been kind to me, especially after having seen our First Year production of "The Rainmaker" in which I played the father, HC. The production had tapped into Danny's Texan roots and moved him considerably; he'd seen all our performances. Danny was the last person you'd picture having come from Texas with his deep, resonant baritone voice and nary a trace of dialect. I'd respected his acting at ACT, but had never been moved by it. He'd also been a bit of a prima donna. But as "Hamlet" the night before, he had blown me away. And I loved him for it. Because of its force, I'd decided to spend one more night at PCPA in order to see it again, this time in another venue. At PCPA most productions were shown indoors at the theatre in Santa Maria and outdoors at their other theatre in Solvang. Seeing Danny as "Hamlet" embodied one of my favorite experiences in acting, namely, when I've underestimated someone and been proven wrong. The production, directed by Alan Fletcher, was so exciting and clear and accessible with Danny always at the helm. You could feel the audience on the edge of their seats. And the audience there was quite a cross-section. You had stalwart theatre goers, patrons of the arts, but there were also just regular joes from the community, farmers, local business people, and I could see the power of theatre in their reactions. Here was a production that could be taken on so many different levels. You could focus on the poetry of it, the existentialist struggle going on in "Hamlet", or you could just enjoy it as a murder mystery, a great yarn. Any or all were equally valid and that made the experience so alive. That's what makes theatre great. It still ranks as one of my favorite productions.

There was a melancholy that was starting to seep in to the trip and maybe that's another reason I could relate to the Melancholy Dane. I knew my trip was coming to an end. I could count the days to San Francisco when my great adventure would be history. And then what? There was a sense of moving on simply being around the actors in the company that a little over a year ago I had been taking class with in conservatory. That too had ended. They were different, I was different. We had both moved on. One of my favorite songs at the time was Judy Collins rendition of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" and it accompanied my mood perfectly. I felt a little bit alone even when I was in there company. Ah well. Such is life. Adventures and surprises still lay ahead. And the magic of that time and that "Hamlet" still resonate. I wonder what further magic 30 years from now will hold?