The answer is always “to be,” asserts Ophelia in Lauren M. Gunderson’s new play A Room in the Castle, now in a powerful world premiere production at the Folger Theatre.
Ophelia is, of course, answering Hamlet’s famous soliloquy “To be, or not to be…” In this case, the Prince of Demark is unseen and unheard since the women — Ophelia (Sabrina Lynne Sawyer), Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude (Oneika Phillips), and the newly imagined lady’s maid to Ophelia, Anna (Burgess Byrd) — take center stage.
This is a female-centered play, though one could argue how feminist. While these women of Hamlet may have a space of their own, the troubled, grieving Prince is never far from their thoughts — he is their obsession, their reason for being, hovering over every scene. Gunderson does a masterful job re-imagining the women trapped by class, circumstances, and desire within the castle’s walls. Each, in their own way, follows the Queen’s edict for women — to “obey, agree, assist” — until they do not.
First presented at the Folger Theatre’s inaugural Reading Room Festival three years ago, A Room in the Castle is directed by Kaja Dunn, who draws the three women close to one another’s secrets and intrigues in Ophelia’s room/prison in the castle. The moments between Ophelia and Anna, her lady’s maid, are filled with a young girl’s yearning to figure out life, love, marriage, and sex, and here the formidable Burgess Byrd is often a perfect comic foil to the overplayed angst of youth.
The most thrilling scenes, however, are solitary ones focused on Queen Gertrude, played with majestic fierceness by Phillips and framed in wind-swept near-silence. She is a presence to be reckoned with, this Queen, this mother.
The center of A Room in the Castle is Queen Gertrude, torn between her king/husband and son. Her story demands our attention — how far will any woman go to protect her son? What will she sacrifice? The machinations of a powerful woman who is steps from the seat of power at the Folger is intrinsically more compelling than a rebellious ingenue’s futile love for her troubled prince, no matter how fully — and in the more reflective moments, how profoundly — she is played by the talented actress to watch Sabrina Lynne Sawyer.
This review will not reveal if this play follows the original, or if all ends well, as tragedy rarely does, but the playwright does offer a clever Shakespearean twist to the original story. The women of Hamlet do have moments that are wholly their own. They do own the stage — and our hearts — in A Room in the Castle.
Nicole Jescinth Smith’s range of power-dressing costume design for Queen Gertrude must be noted as well as Samantha Reno’s scenic design, Max Doolittle’s lighting design, and Sara O’Halloran’s sound design, which were all transporting back to the bleak, isolated Elsinor.
A Room in the Castle can best be enjoyed with a rudimentary Hamlet refresher prior. A number of the funnier lines — and there are several wise and witty ones — are predicated on some familiarity with the original. So seek thee a summary then get thee not to a nunnery but to A Room in the Castle.
Running Time: 85 minutes with no intermission.
A Room in the Castle plays through April 6, 2025, presented by Folger Theatre and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company at the Folger Theatre, 201 E Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC. To purchase tickets ($20–$84, with many discounts available), go online or call the Box Office at (202) 544-7077.
To see credits for the cast and creative team, click here.
COVID Safety: While Folger audiences and employees are no longer required to wear masks at most events, masks are welcome and remain an important preventive measure against COVID-19. Anyone needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so. Folger’s current safety protocols are here.
SEE ALSO:
Lauren M. Gunderson on unmasking the women in ‘Hamlet’ (interview by Nicole Hertvik, February 25, 2025)
Folger Theatre to premiere Lauren Gunderson’s ‘A Room in the Castle’ (news story, January 30, 2025)
