Then there is Hamlet himself, the biggest reason Zizka wished to do it in the first place. “Hamlet is a remarkable play, and one that I have always wanted to direct, but I had to wait for an extraordinary actor, and it was not until I met Zainab that I knew it was time for our production,” she says. “Zainab’s particular abilities – her presence and charisma, her strength with language, her physicality – suggested Hamlet to me.” She says that if Jah hadn’t agreed to do it, there would have been no Hamlet this season.
A new production of “Hamlet” has opened at the Wilma Theater, in center city, and director Blanka Zizka’s casting of the title role may be a historical first.
A rather unconventional staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is shaping up at The Wilma Theater. Helmed by director Blanka Zizka, the title role of the Bard’s play will be covered by an actress, Zainab Jah. Hamlet’s ill-fated lover, Ophelia, will be played by Sarah Gliko. We sat down with Mrs. Gliko to discuss not only the challenges of playing a classic role with a new twist, but also her pop-culture guilty pleasures.
