Summoned home upon his father’s death, Hamlet discovers his mother already remarried to his father’s brother and the country in disarray. A midnight encounter with his father’s ghost sets him on the road to revenge. But how can he be sure his cause is just? Should he strike or stay his hand?
The play’s the thing. Shakespeare’s towering revenge tragedy receives a fresh, contemporary interpretation from the team that brought Richard III so thrillingly to life in 2010.
Key Photography by Earl Carter, Rehearsal Photography by Pam Kleeman
I remember first reading Hamlet at fourteen and knowing in my bones that I had struck the motherload. I couldn’t possibly know then what I know now: that in its eponymous hero we have the most complex incarnation of a human being ever put on stage; yet my theatre career might be traced back to that moment. I lit my taper from this great blaze. I have yearned to direct Hamlet ever since, but that’s not enough – every director worth his salt wants that, surely. What you need is an actor with the talent, wit, sensibility and sheer bravura to succeed as the prince, and they don’t come around too often – once or twice a generation. At last I’ve found mine. Ewen Leslie, brilliant as Richard Gloucester last season, joins Pamela Rabe as Gertrude and Garry McDonald as Polonius to deliver the must-see performance of the year.
Artistic Director Simon Phillips