Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Participatory theater takes on Off-Broadway: Audience agency drives David Horowitz’s BECOMING HAMLET and Garry Starr’s CLASSIC PENGUINS

• By drediman
• September 17, 2026
• No Comments

This September, you’ll find a pair of participatory Off-Broadway shows that respectively endear audiences to play a meaningful role in determining how the theatrical experience unfolds. Here are my thoughts on these two unique productions, both of which generously bestow upon audiences considerable agency to craft their own bespoke entertainment.

BECOMING HAMLET
Five Angels Theatre
Through October 3

The first of these is the Directors Company’s production of Becoming Hamlet (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED) at Five Angels Theater in Hell’s Kitchen. The impetus for the show is fairly novel — to create a theatrical framework in which to encourage audience members to take on an active first person role as the title character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, thereby eschewing empathy or mere character shadowing in pursuit of a theoretically more personal and visceral experience. This transference of theatrical consciousness is accomplished by allowing different members of the audience — as guided by strategically placed cue cards stealthily made available by ninja-like onstage facilitators, who also skillfully double as the famous tragedy’s various characters — to step into the shoes of the Danish prince and speak their insightful lines (thankfully, there is a section of the venue reserved for those for whom this kind of participatory involvement is not their cup of tea). Although the show’s premise is undeniably fascinating, director Sybille Bruun’s production isn’t completely successful in its execution. Indeed, even though Becoming Hamlet uses an ideally truncated single-act adaptation of the play — penned by Damon Horowitz, who also plays, in clear-eyed manner, the evening’s “default” Hamlet — it’s effectiveness slips whenever an audience members transition into the scenes, sometimes considerably disrupting the flow and pacing of the theatrical storytelling depending on the comfort level and acting ability of the participant on hand. Despite my reservations, I would recommend this experiment to zealous theatergoers for them to take the rare opportunity to be at the center of one of Western Drama’s most iconic plays.

GARRY STARR: CLASSIC PENGUINS
Studio Seaview
Through October 11

Then over at Studio Seaview in the Midtown theater district, there’s Garry Starr: Classic Penguins (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Written and performed by Australian comedian Damien Warren-Smith as his half-penguin (!) alter ego Garry Starr, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit is in essence a dizzying and absurdly silly anything goes overview of Western literature, specifically via the novels in the Penguin Classics series (hence the show’s title!). Although technically a solo show, Classic Penguins relies heavily on audience participation to briefly depict the essence of the books — among them, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankeinstein, Emily Brontë’s Withering Heights, etc. — thereby imbuing each show a wildly bespoke trajectory. On paper, this is the kind of theatrical experiment that should eventually grow tiresome. However, due to Warren-Smith’s exuberance and shock-and-awe tactics — be forewarned, he unabashedly and confidently performs the show in the nude, apart from a few suggestive costuming — using hilariously incisive sight gags and chaotic pacing, he’s able to keep audiences giddily off-balance over the course of the show’s 70-ish minute running time. Although the show is insanely playful and staunchly champions body positivity, there are also moments of sexual tension and double entendres spontaneously sprinkled throughout the show, which adds a delectable element of naughtiness to the mix. And despite some of the outrageous tasks he shells out, Warren-Smith nevertheless inspires real trust and eager participation through his energizing and charming stage persona, as well as the sheer infectiousness of his simultaneous good nature and irresistible bad boy demeanor. If at the end of the day the show’s threadbare premise is simply an excuse to release our inner inhibitions, so be it — I had a blast! Indeed, what happens at Studio Seaview, stays at Studio Seaview…