by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move

There is a truly special performance happening at the Hollywood Fringe this year and you won’t find it in any of the normal standing Fringe venues on Hollywood’s Theatre Row.  You will however, get a heads-up on last minute pop-up locations in the area by following the Twitter handle @hamletmobile and also by checking the Twitter hashtag #hamletmobile.

Created by The Moving Shadow Theatre Company the Hamlet-Mobile is featuring 8 short plays inspired by (and utilizing the language of) Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  It is totally FREE and no ticket reservations are allowed with one exception — if you are lucky enough to catch the truck, there are a limited number of viewing slots.  So you’ll have to sign up on the spot for a chance to participate.

“An experience like no other” is how this Shakespeare troupe on wheels is being billed and that might be the understatement of the day – of the Fringe really.  By happenstance, I caught up with these peeps last Saturday afternoon at a location around the corner from the Hudson Theatre and took the deep dive.

Hamlet-Mobile is totally immersive and interactive, you are escorted into a built out set van with players inside and outside talking with each other and with visitors.  It’s a doors closed, one on one theatre experience where at some point you will most likely be asked a question or asked to do something that participates in the story.  When I say AWESOME, the up close and personal of your 15 minutes won’t just be a sitting around on the floor, hanging with your homies kind of afternoon. Hamlet Mobile is an absolutely intriguing mind bender in that you are completely vulnerable to the intimacy of the moment and you will not know what is to happen next.

There are opportunities to see more than one show and you will be often invited to make origami while you wait your turn.  Best “brainchild” of the season produced by Monica Miklas and directed by Lauren Ludwig, this is how real artistry gets incubated right from the streets of Los Angeles into the hearts and minds of unsuspecting audiences, inviting the regular and non-regular theatre goers alike into our special world.

Simply deliciously what Fringe and what theatre is all about!

Very Highly Recommended