Hamlet

Synopsis

Written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness - from overwhelming grief to seething rage - and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

Our Review:

6 May 2011

Dominic Dromgoole's pared-down touring version of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy achieves what could have been impossible, rendering the entire story into a tale told by just eight actors. The presentation of The Mousetrap to the court would seem logistically impossible but, thanks to a neat theatrical device, Drumgoole manages it.

This is a fast-paced production, telling the tale simply with little adornment – although a speech from Hamlet to the players about the role of clowns is an unusual addition, Drumgoole said that he used the First Folio extensively as that lent itself more to a touring production.

The whole production mirrors the travelling players themselves: a simple staging, few props with the actors changing costume from one role to another on stage. They have a hectic time, Simon Armstrong jumps from being Claudius to the Ghost to the Player King, while playing a mandolin between scenes, with some good riffing on Rosencrantz and Guildenster...

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Latest User Review

audience! - 21 July 2012:

Hamlet - I am afraid the worst Oxford Globe performance I have ever witnessed, over several years. Screeching, rushed and often inaudible articulation of the script and often melodramatic, crude violence rather than the subtle psychology I had hoped to hear. Not at all what the academics in Convocation House had led us to expect of Hamlet. An incredible waste of money - and an unusually expensive ticket!...

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