Act 1

I Hate Hamlet begins with Andrew Rally—a young actor who has just gained national fame for his part in a cancelled mediocre television program called "LA Medical"—moving into his new apartment in an imposing brownstone in New York City. The apartment is large and gothic, not the sort of place where Andrew imagines himself living, but his real estate agent, Felicia Dantine, explains that she rented it for him because legendary actor John Barrymore once lived there, and she assumed that Andrew would find the connection with Barrymore to be "a match." Felicia approves of Andrew's commercial success, but Andrew is embarrassed about it. They are soon joined by Deirdre McDavey, who has been Andrew's girlfriend since the days when he was a struggling New York actor, and Lillian Troy, Andrew's agent. Lillian has been in the apartment before, years ago, when she had an...