Who is presenting it?
Globe Theatre On Tour
Shakespeare’s Globe is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse for which he wrote many of his greatest plays, situated on Bankside, London. For the last five years Globe Theatre On Tour have taken productions to castles, festivals, parks and town squares. Previous productions have included Henry V, Anne Boleyn, As You Like It and King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew. This production is part of a two year tour to every country in the world.
What is it about?
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, has not succeeded his father as King. On the throne is his uncle Claudius, who married Queen Gertrude immediately, upon the death of her husband, the first King Hamlet. At midnight the ghost of the dead King appears to his son on the battlements of the castle and commands revenge.
Hamlet, unsure at first, simulates madness and asks for a performance of a play with a plot much like his father’s murder, so that he can see how the King responds. Claudius, deeply alarmed, plans to send Hamlet to England. Before he leaves, however, he kills Polonius (the father of Ophelia- who Hamlet loves) who is hiding behind a curtain in his mother’s room.
Two messengers conduct Hamlet towards the voyage to England, bearing letters that order his death when he arrives. Laertes, Ophelia’s brother enraged by the news of his father’s death finds that his sister is helplessly mad, and swears to kill Hamlet. Ophelia drowns herself and Hamlet gets back to Denmark in time for her burial. Later, at a fencing match where Laertes seeks to stab Hamlet with a poisoned rapier, both men are wounded. Queen Gertrude drinks, in error, the poisoned wine Claudius has prepared for Hamlet. Laertes and Gertrude die; Hamlet, after killing Claudius, collapses in the arms of his friend Horatio and dies.
Who is in it and who wrote and directed it?
Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst.
Cast:
- JOHN DOUGALL: CLAUDIUS & POLONIUS
- LADI EMERUWA: HAMLET
- PHOEBE FILDES: OPHELIA / GERTRUDE / HORATIO / ROSENCRANTZ
- MIRANDA FOSTER: GERTRUDE
- NAEEM HAYAT: HAMLET
- BERUCE KHAN: HORATIO / ROSENCRANTZ / LAERTES / GUILDENSTERN
- TOM LAWRENCE: HORATIO/ ROSENCRANTZ/ LAERTES/ GUILDENSTERN
- JENNIFFER LEONG: OPHELIA/ HORATIO / ROSENCRANTZ
- RAWIRI PARATENE: CLAUDIUS & POLONIUS
- MATTHEW ROMAIN: HORATIO/ ROSENCRANTZ/ LAERTES/ GUILDENSTERN
- AMANDA WILKIN: OPHELIA/ GERTRUDE / HORATIO / ROSENCRANTZ
- KEITH BARTLETT: CLAUDIUS/ POLONIUS
Who might like it?
Shakespeare lovers, local theatre attendees, local residents, those interested in cultural activities and the arts in general, tourists, students studying the play, historians, those interested in war, royalty and history.