Lauren M. Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle Flips the Script on Hamlet with A Feminist Twist
A Room in the Castle
Folger Shakespeare Theatre
Jordan Wright
March 11, 2025
Special to The Zebra
Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Burgess Byrd, and Oneika Phillips in Folger Theatre’s world premiere of A Room in the Castle, written by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Kaja Dunn, co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library, March 4-April 6, 2025. (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
In A Room in the Castle playwright Lauren M. Gunderson flips the script on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Hamlet. In her version the women get to be empowered, join forces and abandon the murderous prince. That’s novel, right? Gunderson, as America’s most produced American playwright, is known for her empowered females. Gals with strut and guts – smart cookies who could rule the world and dress nicely too.
In these original portrayals Ophelia is a confused, lovestruck teenager who composes songs to Hamlet with whom she is betrothed. Although, she’s not at all certain she should go through with her wedding. She’s miffed by his lack of attention to her. Queen Gertrude is a glamorous, power-mad diva who defends her son, yet eventually decides to bag it all and rescue our poor ingenue. “I am your protector now,” she tells Ophelia. Anna is Ophelia’s wise, tough-talking and supremely confident handmaid who has Ophelia’s back in matters of life and love. Together these unlikely compatriots plot to save Ophelia from marrying Hamlet and to whisk her off to parts unknown.
Oneika Phillips, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, and Burgess Byrd (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
You may ask about the Prince. In this three-hander Hamlet’s actions are imagined through video projections depicting which Act and Scene they relate to. It’s up to you to suss it out. As a huge fan of Shakespeare’s works, Gunderson seeks to reinvent the story from a woman’s angle in order to reimagine how these women might truly react to Hamlet’s madness, the interminable wars, the palace intrigue and the murders that surround them, to finally take charge of their own destinies.
Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Oneika Phillips, and Burgess Byrd i(Photo/Erika Nizborski)
The women banter about how much power the men have over them, “All of it!” exclaims Anna, and the three of them get tanked on bottles of wine while plotting their escape. Sitting together in Ophelia’s tiny bedroom, lightly furnished with a desk, a single bed and her treasured guitar, they eagerly trash-talk the men in their lives and bond over discussions of male domination and sex. “Do you like sex?” Ophelia quizzes the Queen. This feminist viewpoint of Shakespeare’s classic work is an interesting approach written with humor and wit. Yet, after all is said and done between these newly empowered women, it doesn’t turn out so great for Gertrude, but I leave it you to imagine her denouément.
Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Oneika Phillips, and Burgess Byrd (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
The excellent cast consists of Oneika Phillips as Queen Gertrude, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer as Ophelia and Burgess Byrd as Anna.
Directed by Kaja Dunn; Scenic Design by Samantha Reno; Costume Design by Nicole Jescinth Smith; Assistant Director and Dramaturg Shana Laski; Lighting Design by Max Doolittle; Sound Design and Composer Sarah O’Halloran. In a co-presentation with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
Through April 6th at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 544-7077 or visit www.Folger.edu.