Naked 'Hamlet' Coming To Prospect Park

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — A theater group is bringing a production of "Hamlet" to Prospect Park this summer — and they're doing it all in the nude.

The naked — and all-male — production is a twist on the Shakespeare classic that Torn Out Theater says will force the audience to focus on the words.

The actors, though, won't be naked during the whole show.

"The nudity is used throughout the play depending on how it suits the character," Torn Out General Manager Diana Levy told Patch.

The production follows Torn Out Theater's debut last summer with a similarly stark, and all-female, adaptation of "The Tempest" in the park.

"It raises the stakes of the play because as actors that is the one time that we are totally in the most vulnerable state, we have nothing to protect us," actor Mike Press told Brooklyn Daily. "It also raises the stakes for the viewer, because they have to get over the fact we are naked and really listen to what it is we are saying.

The production of Hamlet will take place on August 10, 11 and 12 at 5:30 p.m. and August 13 at 2 p.m. at the park's Music Pagoda, near the center. The shows will be free with seats taken on a first come, first served basis.

"We’re excited about the way that this ties into Hamlet," she said. "We chose Hamlet specifically because it has themes of lies and deception. The character of Hamlet lives in a world where everyone is telling him not only what to think but how to show what he feels."

And, according to the New York Daily News, while nudity is banned in the park, state law allows it during performances.

"I hope that audiences will push past the shock of nakedness on stage, and see what it tells us about Hamlet," actor Jake Austin Robertson told the News.

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