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Poe Dameron is set to go on a killing spree this summer. Actor Oscar Isaac, perhaps best known for his portrayal of the roguish space pilot in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (and the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi), will get a change to spread his X-wings as the thoughtful and vengeful Danish prince in Hamlet at the Public Theater, in a production scheduled to run from June 20 through September 3.
As New York stage lovers know, Isaac is no stranger to Shakespeare. Before he was Poe—or the title characters in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)—he played Proteus in the Bard-inspired musical Two Gentlemen of Verona (2005) and Romeo in the teen-love weepie Romeo & Juliet (2007), both under the aegis of the Public's Shakespeare in the Park. His brooding, emotional presence should be a fine match for the melancholy Dane, who is driven to bloody revenge by the ghost of his murdered father.
Sam Gold (Othello) will direct the production. Key & Peele's Keegan-Michael Key will Hamlet's pal Horatio, and the rest of the cast looks promising: Peter Friedman (Jacuzzi) as the nattering Polonius; Gayle Rankin (Cabaret) as his much-abused daughter, Ophelia; Anatol Yusef (Boardwalk Empire's Meyer Lansky) as her brother, Laertes; Roberta Colindrez (Fun Home) and Matthew Saldívar (Peter and the Starcatcher) as the hapless Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Casting for the key roles of Claudius and Gertrude has not yet been announced. (The Public's most recent production of Hamlet was the Mobile Unit version just a few months ago.)
Tickets go on sale to Public members on March 9 and to members of the public on March 30. This is yet another reason, as if you needed one, to get a Membership to the Public.