Tiny Ninjas Execute Hamlet This Weekend

With theater, Seattlest, as you know, is drawn to the fringe, the daring, mind-altering experience. And those with puppets. But we're excited about Tiny Ninja Theater because the idea makes us laugh until we risk public incontinence.

[Essential backstory: apparently in certain supermarkets, tiny plastic ninja figures are sold in vending machines. This is news to us. Where the hell have we been?]

In 1999, director Dov Weinstein (“there are no small parts, only small actors”) realized these pint-sized playthings had thespian potential worth nurturing. The Tiny Ninjas have taken on Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, and presumably a cautionary tale called The Effects of Nuclear War. Hailed by the New York Times, Washington Post, the Guardian, and others, as “genius,” and “small,” he's clearly onto something.

Here in Seattle, they offer us a zippy, abridged Hamlet at Empty Space Theatre: “If tiny plastic ninjas had existed in the 17th century, I have no doubt that Shakespeare himself would have staged the play in this way.” Because of the actors' size, close-ups are provided via a handheld camera projected onto a screen. Tickets are $12 - $15, but the ninjas are only around through Sunday, May 22, so make it snappy.