From 'The Pitt' to 'Hamlet': Patrick Ball and a twisty take on Shakespeare come to the L.A. stage

To beryllium oregon not to beryllium a crazed murderer, that is the question astatine the bloody bosom of the satellite premiere adaptation of “Hamlet” opening Wednesday astatine the Mark Taper Forum with Patrick Ball successful the cardinal role, caller disconnected his star-making crook arsenic Dr. Frank Langdon successful the Max deed bid “The Pitt.”

Co-starring Gina Torres from “Suits,” this adaptation from manager Robert O’Hara spins 1 of theater’s astir celebrated plays into a modern-day satellite of decaying Hollywood glamour. There is simply a mansion connected the seashore and the remnants of a 1930s soundstage. Hamlet’s household runs a movie studio. The Danish prince is Hollywood royalty, and alternatively than being a tragic hero, his sanity and motive for execution are interrogated “CSI”-style successful a bracing 2nd enactment that flips the publication connected the archetypal 90 minutes, which are viewed wholly from Hamlet’s perspective.

There are added scenes and plentifulness of salty language, with dialog that shifts from classical to 21st period vernacular.

To beryllium successful this presumption astatine each — with his look connected billboards, autobus benches and streetlight banners crossed the metropolis — is simply a “miracle,” Ball says. He was a comparative chartless earlier scoring a starring relation connected the zeitgeisty aesculapian play “The Pitt,” which premiered successful January and averaged much than 10 cardinal viewers per episode, becoming 1 of Max’s apical 5 archetypal bid premieres of each time.

Prior to that his lone surface acquisition was a azygous occurrence of “Law & Order.” He had, however, spent a decennary “grinding,” helium says, “auditioning for movie and TV, getting adjacent but ne'er happening.” He besides spent 4 years traveling for determination theater, performing successful shows including “Romeo & Juliet,” “Cat connected a Hot Tin Roof” and “The Lover” successful places similar Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Boston and San Diego.

Patrick Ball during a interruption successful rehearses for “Hamlet” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“I had settled upon the information that that was going to beryllium it for me. And I was blessed with that,” Ball says. “And the imagination of Hollywood was thing that I had fto spell of, and I made bid with the information that that wasn’t going to beryllium my life.”

Then each of a abrupt “The Pitt” happened — and it felt similar kismet. The North Carolina native’s parent is an exigency country caregiver and his begetter is simply a paramedic. The stories told connected the Noah Wyle-led play resonated with him. His parents work done the aviator occurrence and said, “This checks out. This is existent medicine,” Ball says, recalling however excited they were for him. To beryllium capable to archer stories that are meaningful to the assemblage helium grew up in, helium says, feels similar a blessing.

So does moving with seasoned pros similar O’Hara and Torres. O’Hara, who is besides an established playwright, received a Tony information successful 2020 for directing Jeremy O. Harris’ critically acclaimed “Slave Play,” which acceptable a box-office grounds during its West Coast premiere astatine the Taper, grossing $1.4 cardinal successful 5 weeks. Ball says that aft seeing the amusement successful New York, helium spent the adjacent 4 hours consecutive discussing it with the person helium went with.

O’Hara is obsessed with true-crime shows similar “48 Hours,” successful which culprits instrumentality to their stories of innocence adjacent erstwhile faced with video replays of their guilt, truthful helium built the 2nd enactment of his accumulation successful a moody, film-noir, flashback style, with a detective questioning characters aft the play’s end-of-show massacre. Think David Lynch meets Alfred Hitchcock with a Salvador Dali-painted set.

“I deliberation that the assemblage watching volition go: ‘Wait a second, really, you enactment poison successful his ear? Who puts poison successful an ear?” O’Hara says during an interrogation aft rehearsal, portion Ball and Torres beryllium laughing beside him. “And wherever are you guys getting each this poison? Poison successful the glass, poison connected the sword. This is thing I didn’t marque up, but someway Claudius has a stash of poison.”

And what astir that ghost?

Shakespeare’s Hamlet sees a shade who tells him that his uncle Claudius murdered his father; O’Hara’s Hamlet whitethorn oregon whitethorn not person seen a ghost. He mightiness conscionable beryllium a brainsick idiosyncratic pretending to enactment other brainsick successful bid to get distant with murder. In the highly stylized beingness of Hollywood noir, glamour and intelligence unwellness locomotion hand-in-hand; entitlement and privilege tally amok.

Shakespeare seldom writes astir communal people, O’Hara notes. “Which goes backmost to the L.A.-ness of it all,” Ball chimes in. “My rubric is ‘prince,’ right? And what’s the American equivalent of that? It’s celebrity. The Elsinore of America is Hollywood. So to beryllium capable to archer this story, successful that way, successful this town, is simply a precise chill opportunity.”

To Ball’s surprise, O’Hara hadn’t seen “The Pitt” erstwhile helium decided to formed Ball arsenic Hamlet. O’Hara, rather, reacted to the spot of Ball’s audition, which Ball self-taped connected his telephone successful a frenetic benignant that Ball aboriginal felt was “insane.”

“You person to person confidence, you person to person the audacity to judge that you are going to bash Hamlet — and that you can bash Hamlet,” O’Hara says. “Because if I had to woody with idiosyncratic who I had to pump up, oregon I had to marque him judge that helium tin bash it, it would beryllium a full antithetic process.”

“My archetypal thought was, ‘I don’t cognize if my peri-menopausal encephalon tin bash this,” Gina Torres says of her crook arsenic Gertrude successful “Hamlet.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

O’Hara knew 1 happening for sure: He wanted Torres to play Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. He loved her successful “The Matrix” sequels and besides arsenic the formidable lawyer Jessica Pearson connected “Suits.” He was truthful definite that helium didn’t adjacent inquire her to audition. Torres, however, had reservations.

“My archetypal thought was, ‘I don’t cognize if my peri-menopausal encephalon tin bash this,’” she says, laughing. But past she work O’Hara’s publication and she was sold. “I was truthful seduced by the thought that we get to spot a Gertrude that we’ve ne'er seen before.”

Torres’ surface resume is miles agelong but her signifier credits, not truthful much. Which is funny, she says, due to the fact that arsenic a New York native, her lone extremity was to beryllium a Broadway star. But she got formed successful a recurring relation connected a soap opera, and past a aviator and distant she went.

“Talk to immoderate New York actor, and they’re like, ‘I’m conscionable doing capable TV truthful that I tin spell backmost location and bash theater.’ I perceive it each the time. And past 8 years spell by,” she says.

There is an electrical infinitesimal betwixt the clip a signifier manager calls “places” and the curtain rises, Torres says. That’s the feeling actors unrecorded for.

“We conscionable fly,” she says. “And we’re chasing that consciousness of formation and connecting connected stage, and if thing goes wrong, we’re utilizing it. We’re not starting over, we’re not gonna stop. There’s nary information net.”

That feeling is thing O’Hara sought to harness with his adaptation. He doesn’t inquire for much than 1 run-through a day. He wants to support things fresh, with the anticipation of state and breakthroughs. The cast, helium says, indispensable person country to find the play.

“I don’t privation it to beryllium drilled in,” helium says. “I privation determination to beryllium a small spot of titillating and vibration going on.”