Another act of vandalism in downtown L.A. as Robert O’Hara defaces ‘Hamlet’ at the Taper

Playwright and director Robert O’Hara has turned his puckish attention to “Hamlet,” treating Shakespeare’s tragedy not as an august cultural treasure that has held the world’s attention for more than 400 years but as a squeaky plaything that can be exploited for eccentric fun and games.

It goes without saying that his new adaptation of “Hamlet,” which had its premiere Wednesday at the Mark Taper Forum, isn’t for purists. But Shakespeare’s drama can withstand even the most brazen attack.

Oh, the crazy stagings I’ve seen! None more so than the 1999 New York production by performance theorist and director Richard Schechner that turned the play into a pop-cultural hallucination, featuring a weed-smoking Hamlet with a Jamaican lilt, ghostly reminders of Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple and a