Shakespeare's Hamlet returns to the big screen and the little theatre this spring. The cinematic version is by Michael Almereyda and will be unveiled in Los Angeles and New York May 12 in a updated-to-New York setting featuring Ethan Hawke, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray and Sam Shephard, among others. The local Equity-waiver production at the Odyssey Theatre is by Jack Stehlin's Circus Theatricals and stars Stehlin as the Prince of Denmark. Casey Biggs, who played opposite Stehlin in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow at the Odyssey, directs. The production opens April 16 for a six-week run.

The cast also includes Patricia Agegeim, Jill Gascoine, Dan Gibbons, Jerry Goble, Chet Grissom, Steve Irish, Carol Ketay, Jack Kissell, Louis Lotorto, Dean Nichols, Andy Prosky and Neil Vipond.

Circus Theatricals was founded in New York by Stehlin in 1983. In Los Angeles, Stehlin teamed up with Jeannine Welles, now his wife and producing director, to mount a dozen plays over a period of three years at The Hudson Guild, including The Job, which ran for six months in L.A. and had a critically successful Off-Broadway stint. Hamlet is CT's second co-production with the Odyssey, following The Cheats of Scapin.

Biggs and Stehlin are both alumnae of John Houseman's The Acting Company and graduates of Juilliard School.

J. Gregor Veneklasen designs the set for Hamlet, with David Robkin as lighting designer, Laura Alvarex as costume designer and John Lantz as sound designer, associate director and co-producer. Welles and Ron Sossi are the other producers.Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. For tickets and information call (310) 477-2055.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent