Castle Brownstone
The brownstone apartment building which is both setting and central plot device for the play serves a third purpose as imagery. The brownstone is described in the stage directions using words like “Gothic” and recommending that the fireplace be as “gargoyle” as possible. The intention is to produce as much of a castle-like feeling as possible while still maintaining its status as both a modern apartment and relic from mid-20th century America. By Act Two, the apartment has undergone a significant transformation: here the stage directions begin by describing how it now looks like a “medieval lair.” The purpose of this use of set design as imagery is part of the overall thematic design of the play which seeks to replicate many aspects of the Shakespearean tragedy upon which it is based. The brownstone comes to resemble more and more a modern day Elsinore Castle, home to Hamlet.
Trailburst Nuggets Commercial
References to the breakfast cereal commercial which made Andrew famous serves as imagery that underlines the anxiety he feels about trying to make the shift to serious acting by taking on the most famous role in world drama. The juxtaposition between the cereal commercial with its catchy jingle and chipmunk puppet co-star and Shakespeare’s Hamlet could not be any more starkly drawn. The advertisement also adds a layer of imagery to the play’s thematic concern about the tension between commercial and artistic satisfaction in the arts.
Barrymore-esque
Andrew starts out as a perhaps stereotypical post-Method type of modern-day film actor. His attitude and personality is contemporary casual with just the typical amount of thespian neurosis. In other words, he is the antithesis to the pre-Method stage-trained melodramatic style of a former matinee idol and silent film star like John Barrymore. By the opening night of Hamlet, however, Andrew has taken on much of the old-fashioned grandness of his spectral acting coach. The imagery presented of how much Act Two Andrew has changed from Act One Andrew is prefaced by his absence from the entire opening sequence of Act Two which serves primarily to build up his transformation before it is finally revealed.
Hamlet
Standing in direct opposition to the sheer commercial aspect of the cereal ad and everything it stands for is the recurrence of imagery from Shakespeare’s tragedy. Whether the play is merely being referenced or alluded to or Andrew is shown recreating scenes or Barrymore is delivering verbatim one of its most famous passages that does not come out of the mouth of Hamlet himself, Shakespeare’s most famous work is a constant presence throughout. If the Trailbuster Nuggets commercial is intended to portray the extreme of commercial-oriented entertainment, the perhaps Hamlet is the stand-in for the opposite extreme of pure aesthetic unencumbered by commercial interests.
