Arts & Entertainment

Teatro La Plaza Reimagines ‘Hamlet’ With Anecdotes and Humor From Cast With Down Syndrome

The Danish prince gets a new life in Teatro La Plaza’s reimagined “Hamlet.”

Chicago Shakespeare Theater in collaboration with the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance brings the Spanish-language production, which stars an ensemble of actors with Down syndrome, to the Windy City, marking its American debut.

English translation closed-captioning will be shown on monitors alongside the stage.

The beloved play has been used as inspiration for dozens of other stage and film adaptations, like the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fat Ham,” recently at the Goodman Theatre, and Disney favorite “The Lion King.”

But the central themes remain the same: grief, revenge and what it means to be human.

Ximena Rodríguez, Diana Gutiérrez and Cristina León Barandiarán in Teatro La Plaza’s “Hamlet,” running at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater through March 23. (Courtesy of Teatro La Plaza)

As the original story goes, Hamlet, the protagonist and prince of Denmark, is visited by the ghost of his dead father, the former king, who demands his son avenge his death by killing his uncle, who the phantom says murdered him. But was that really a ghost or was the mourning son going mad?

Peru’s Teatro La Plaza makes some remarkable changes to the original Shakespearean text.

Most notably, the English playwright’s longest work has been trimmed down to a neat 95 minutes and puts young people with Down syndrome at the center of the story with personal anecdotes, music and humor woven into the classic tragedy.

“To make productions like this possible, we must rethink traditional models of production,” said Chela de Ferrari, the show’s director and writer, who has a history of working with casts with disabilities. “The way theater is usually made — fast, efficient and within strict logistical constraints — does not always allow for the kind of deep exploration needed to create truly inclusive and transformative work.”

“Hamlet” is a play that’s traditionally reserved for neurotypical, highly trained actors, so seeing 30-year-old Jaime Cruz on stage as the titular character already subverts the norm and adds another layer to the iconic question: “to be or not to be,” as Ferrari explains. “For many people with Down syndrome, the question ‘to be or not to be’ is not just philosophical — it is personal. Society often decides who gets to take up space, whose voices are heard, whose stories matter.”

Jaime Cruz in Teatro La Plaza’s “Hamlet,” running at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater through March 23. (Courtesy of Teatro La Plaza)

Teatro La Plaza’s production has received international acclaim from both Shakespeare scholars and individuals new to the theater world.

The troupe has traversed the globe, performing for audiences on stages in nearly 40 different cities from Hong Kong to Paris.

And now, Chicago.

“It’s important today for us to consider people that may not be like us and to think about what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes,” said Kimberly Motes, the executive director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Motes and her colleagues like to think of Shakespeare as a modern, living writer, and from there, find what contemporary voices help to “illuminate the ambiguity, complexity and wonder of our world.”

In turn, Motes said, that inclusivity helps to bring in a more diverse crowd.

“This idea of coming together in space with powerful storytelling really reminds us of our shared humanity and that we are all in this together,” said Motes.

Teatro La Plaza’s “Hamlet” is running at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater through March 23.

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