A searingly intimate observation of an alternative production of Hamlet where many of the actors are soldiers from the frontline What is the use of art in time of war? Shot a few months prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski’s documentary probes this thorny question with a searing intimacy The film observes an alternative production of Hamlet which brings together a group of Ukrainian performers from all walks of life and as volatile emotions are spilled on to the stage performance becomes a conduit for personal catharsis as well as artistic expression scenes of the rehearsal process are interspersed with revelations about the actors’ backgrounds Many of them are soldiers on the frontline: Slavik and Katia have endured the bloodshed of combat as well as the horrors of captivity was thrust on to the battlefield as a medic a responsibility for which he was both professionally and emotionally ill-equipped the stage transforms into a common ground for understanding Hailing from a conservative region of the country Slavik admits to having his preconceptions erased through meeting Rodion who proudly incorporates his traumatic experience as a queer person into his performance The rigid parameters of national pride are also up for debate raises important inquiries about the place of women in Ukrainian society These differences of opinions are processed not just through heated arguments By emphasising the collaborative process of performance the film stresses that unity must be achieved through holistic dialogue rather than an autocratic consolidation of ideas The documentary’s postscript feels even more shattering in this regard: with most of the cast called up for military conscription opportunities for creative experiments like this are already a thing of the past The Hamlet Syndrome is on True Story from 9 May the question facing those staging this famous play is “To be or not to be the traditional production.” There are strong arguments for either choice As you watch “Hamlet,” it seems every few minutes you hear a phrase that has become an essential part of our language Knowing the familiarity many theatergoers have with the play productions often will attempt to turn it into something new by making sweeping changes in its tone and emphasis (A brilliant example of this was former Alabama Shakespeare Festival acting great Ray Chambers’ “Hamlet,” a few decades ago in which largely through emphasis and intonation he transformed the indecisive prince of Denmark into a determined avenger who knew exactly what he was doing.) are you robbing them of the opportunity to be introduced to one of the most important plays ever written ASF’s current production of “Hamlet,” on its Festival Stage ASF has given the old one a dazzling coat of paint some interesting detail work and some new bells and whistles ASF’s production preserves the traditional plot and emphasis but changes the time period from the Middle Ages to the early 1900s It’s a compromise that may not please those desiring major changes but works well for most others It keeps the original substance but adds a striking new look One doesn’t expect to see “Hamlet” open with cocktail party guests singing around a grand piano and one can’t talk about the production’s “look” without praising the gorgeous costumes designed by Alexa Behm More: Free stuff: Biscuits giving away shirts, bobbleheads, chains Some of director Brian McEleney’s changes work well Here are some random thoughts on these choices: This works brilliantly partially because the brilliant Greta Lambert plays Polonius She somehow makes the bombastic advisor far more endearing than in so many male performances and it also changes the relationship between Polonius and her son Laertes The change and the performance somehow make her part in the famous tragedy seem all the more tragic As with ASF’s production of “Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” members of the audience are seated on stage In “Sherwood,” where the audience on stage was expected to participate in parts of the madcap comedy In “Hamlet” it is a purposeless distraction that only detracts from the drama For scenes in which Hamlet stands on the castle walls to see the ghost of his murdered father he and other actors speak from the theater’s balconies: Some won’t like it I thought it added to the scene by giving us the impression of the vastness of a castle There is a notable lack of special effects for the ghost scenes If you have watched some of the incredible ghostly effects in many of ASF’s adaptations of a “Christmas Carol,” you know the lack of them here is a conscious choice McEleney has directed “Hamlet” almost as if it was a film noir in which the main character is an everyman trapped in the undertow of a tragedy he cannot escape In trying to help the audience relate to a normal man caught in this situation it makes sense for McEleney to make the ghost seem more natural than supernatural More: Things to do in Montgomery for May 1-7 The production has been shortened from about four hours to about two and a half but “Hamlet” is one of Shakespeare’s longest plays and such cuts are common to most productions because most audiences aren’t prepared to sit still for four hours Each production involves a great deal of thought about what is left in and taken out and for some “purists” that is as fascinating as watching the full four-hours But the biggest question is does any of this really matter I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m simply too dense to understand the significance of Hamlet making his first appearance in an offstage bathtub But complaining about production details in ASF’s “Hamlet” is like whining that the glass of 2008 French champagne someone just handed you may have been slightly overchilled This is one of the greatest plays ever written it is performed by a wonderful company of actors Grant Chapman is a superbly flamboyant Hamlet totally aware that the vengeful path he is on leads to his own self-destruction but seemingly powerless to leave it who has remarried Claudius shortly after the king’s death particularly in the climactic scene in which she finally realizes her son’s delusions were not delusions at all Stephen Thorne not only avoids making the murderous usurper Claudius a one-dimensional villain but to make him relatable enough that he almost appears sympathetic such as Rodney Clark who shines briefly but brightly as the Gravedigger Debate the nuances of the production later but see it For missing one of the world’s greatest plays would be the real tragedy More: Live music in Montgomery area for May 1-7 a visit to the play's setting in Denmark brings a new dimension to the tragedy There's a cold wind blowing from the Øresund Sound as I stand on a platform in front of Kronborg Castle in Helsingør a pillar-box red guard post stands beside a row of impressive cannons facing the strait I'm not here for the view though: I'm looking for ghosts This windy spot is the exact location for the opening scene of Hamlet switch posts in the middle of the night and speak of the ghost of Hamlet's father a grand Renaissance pile built in 1574 complete with fairytale turrets is where the rest of the lurid drama unfolds the last time the RSC staged Hamlet was back in 2016 "There's something in the air right now saying that the play has resonance," says Tamara Harvey noting that all three producers had approached the RSC to stage their productions in the same year As a play that deals with themes of generational differences and changing world orders not to mention the sense that "there's something rotten in the state of Denmark" – the idea that society's foundations no longer feel secure – it's hard to miss its appeal nothing looks rotten in Helsingør – the modern-day name for Shakespeare's town of Elsinore The sky is blue and the sun is glinting off a gold flag flying at the top of one of the turrets I'm on a tour with castle host Louise Older Steffensen to uncover Kronborg's Hamlet connections Our feet echo as we walk around the stone corridors and into the grand ballroom with its chequerboard floor and soaring wooden ceiling as she tells me there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever visited Kronborg – but he certainly knew it well "We have contracts that tell us that Shakespeare's colleagues visited the castle," she says George Bryan and William Kempe were here for a season they set up the Lord Chamberlain's Men They may have brought back tales of what happened within its walls A distinctive celebration is mentioned in the play: a toast followed by the bang of a kettle drum and a cannon – and it comes from a tradition followed in the castle at that time the tapestries from that era are on display their gilded threads depicting mythologised kings Long curtains hang around the queen's bedchamber and around the castle dampening sound and making it a fraction warmer – as well as providing opportunities for dramatic intrigue Visiting the castle feels like being immersed in the play, walking down the large gallery where the silk dresses of the ladies-in-waiting would have rustled into its beautifully preserved church. It's as if the play itself has come to life, and the castle plays up to that theatricality. In the summer, special tours invite guests to participate in Hamlet-inspired murder mystery-style tours Hallowe'en tours take place in the creepy basements has seen the ghost of Hamlet's father – but there have been other ghostly sightings according to Steffensen and assorted castle guides More clues about the importance of this castle to Shakespeare emerge as Steffensen gives me a history lesson James I married Denmark's teenage princess When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 and King James ascended to the throne "The first quarto – written very early in 1603 – is set in Denmark," said Steffensen "but there are no specific locations in it we get references to the castle itself." King James became the patron of Shakespeare's company and their name changed from "The Lord Chamberlain's Men" to "The King's Men" in 1603 Queen Anne's castle in Denmark became an important location for the royal family and thus gained a starring role in the play a large flat space in a corner of the castle Views reach across the moat to the yellow barracks buildings around it and to the town beyond It's in one of these barracks buildings the former infirmary that is now the headquarters of the town's Shakespeare Festival where I find out more about the legacy of Hamlet in Helsingør Lars Romann Engel, CEO and artistic director of HamletScenen the castle's professional theatre body welcomes me into a hallway-cum-gallery of Hamlet actors through the decades Richard Burton and Christopher Plummer cover the walls and stairwell the festival typically also produces a lighter Shakespeare work Both plays are performed in the open air with the castle as a backdrop; tickets book out a long way in advance and the audience typically shows up with a picnic • Nordhavn: The Danish 'city' that's been designed for an easy life • Denmark's surf town where old-school fishermen and surfers live in harmony • Copenhagen's 'CopenPay' scheme rewards tourists – but does it actually work? A trained theatre director himself, Engel directed a very successful adaptation of Hamlet in 2008, set in the castle's courtyard with tumbledown walls and crumbling masonry – starring a young Claes Bang as Rosenkrantz – and after a mutual decision with the local municipality He has been running and directing the event for the past 17 years you know that you enter the myth," said Engel "Now you are at the epicentre of it all It's a special thing: it was actually here that it was written for." Engel takes me on a tour of some of the other barracks buildings where a full-size sculpture of Shakespeare sits beside a sleeping Viking warrior Danske is another significant figure for the castle: according to legend A reproduction of this original model lurks in the gloom of the castle cellars Engel is in the throes of arranging this year's festival, which will take place 6-24 August and feature both Twelfth Night and Hamlet, performed by The Lord Chamberlain's Men who take a classical Elizabethan approach to the works and perform with an all-male cast "This year we've taken a more classical approach," said Engel we don't like it to be upside down and we want it to be more as we know it." In testament to the endless ways the play can be reinvented, however, Engel also plans to put on Eddie Izzard's one-person Hamlet at the stage this year. It's often said that every minute of every day Hamlet is being performed somewhere in the world Shakespeare's most popular play in his lifetime has an afterlife "It's one of the greatest pieces of writing in the English language dealing with the very nature of human existence," says Harvey "A play wrangling with this fundamental issue with such complexity is always going to mean different things to different people." experiencing the "set" of the play in real life past the guardhouse to the grass fortifications around the castle the sounds of marching feet echo through the sound system joining the march where the prince's body is taken away If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. Why we're still talking about Maud WagnerHow America's first professional female tattooist broke through into an art form historically dominated by men. 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Cloudy and damp with rain early...then becoming partly cloudy A modern twist on Shakespeare’s iconic Hamlet is officially coming to Miami The three-company co-production marks the South Florida premiere of “Fat Ham” by James Lijames The Pulitzer Prize-winning show already saw strong critical acclaim in Fort Lauderdale’s Island City Stage the show will be playing at GableStage’s historic Biltmore Hotel home from May 16 to June 15 Fat Ham is a modern-day reinvention of one of Shakespeare’s revered Hamlet a Black queer young man who explores themes of identity and only then is he forced to decide whether to break the cycles of violence or succumb to them Audiences are in for an all-encompassing exploration of masculinity "This production is a testament to the power of reimagining stories through fresh cultural lenses,” said Brévo Theatre Producing Artistic Director Terrence "TM" Pride ”Fat Ham brings a dynamic and relevant perspective to a classic work making it accessible and resonant for today’s audiences.” Fat Ham was originally produced by Philadelphia’s Wilma Theatre in 2021 premiering off-broadway at the Public Theatre in 2022 and riding the wave of overwhelmingly positive reviews to a 2023 Broadway debut The performance runs 1 hour and 35 minutes with no intermission audience members are invited to a deep dive pre-show cafe talk with a member of the artistic team Clementine’s Wine Gourmet will offer attendees wine from around the world Tickets begin at $40, with special rates for artists, military personnel, and groups of 8+. Tickets may be purchased by visiting GableStage.org or by calling (305) 445-1119 Students and teachers can attend any performance free of charge if they arrive 45 minutes before showtime and fill any empty seat Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Panopticon from Open Dance Project (May 2-10)For their 10th anniversary season Houston’s source for truly innovative immersive dance is revisiting some of their most provocative shows that invite audiences to walk through danced worlds Panopticon sets audiences into a futuristic dystopian society where everything is regimented and monitored The audience takes on the role of visitors from the outside “Savage” lands a place that still offers moments of privacy and spontaneous human emotions regulated citizens to view their daily lives Perhaps we’ll discover two would-be lovers struggling with their desire for physical and emotional intimacy in a world where deep Open Dance Project once again offers dance storytelling at its most intimate Denise Fennell’s Lessons Learned at Stages (May 2-11)In addition to their fun for their 2024-25 season Stages brought in comedy fav Denise Fennell for an add-on season of four Late Nite Catechism shows Now that she’s dispensed sisterly schooling for summer this one-woman-show phenomenon takes off her habit to teach us some real life lessons she’s learned as an artist Drawing from personal experiences and observations Fennell weaves together hilarious tales of everyday life showcasing her talent for finding humor in the ordinary Hamlet from 4th Wall Theatre (May 2-24)You’ve never seen Shakespeare’s masterpiece done this way before Using a directorial vision first conceived by the innovative New York theater company Bedlam this stripped down and raw Hamlet calls for a cast of only four actors Wesley Whitson tackles the role of the conflicted Prince Hamlet with Christy Watkins and 4th Wall co-founder Philip Lehl jumping in and out of around 30 roles between them Primary Trust at Alley Theatre (May 2-25)This recent Pulitzer Prize-winning show by Eboni Booth is making its Houston debut The play explores the inner and outer lives of Kenneth a lonely 38-year-old man who works in a bookstore in a small New York town His one after-work joy is sipping on mai tais at the local tiki bar with his friend Bert But after being laid off from his long-time job he is forced to make changes in his life of comfortable routine This tender comedy cherishes the intimate moments in any life where every choice matters and every connection holds the power to create change Coconut Cake at Ensemble Theatre (May 9-June 1)Ensemble partners with several prestigious theaters across the U.S to produce this new play by acclaimed playwright Melda Beaty as a “rolling” world premiere The show has already won awards for giving authentic voice to a group of retired Black men who meet every week for coffee at a local restaurant The dramatic and comic play gives audiences a seat at the table to listen in as these men talk about their wives But when a mystery woman moves into the abandoned house down the street the men find their daily talks and perhaps quiet Bug from Dirt Dogs (May 16-31)Having treated Houston audiences to a standout production of the Tracy Letts contemporary classic August: Osage County two years ago Dirt Dogs goes back to the Letts well for this devastating earlier work that explores the darkness in the human mind Bug's exploration of conspiracy theories and paranoia might seems just as timely today as it did in the late 90s A lonely waitress and veteran drifter find unexpected love as they meet regularly in a seedy Oklahoma City motel room mysterious bugs begin to take over their space Are they simple pests or could they be the result of military experiments The couple’s fears soon over take them and disrupt any attempt at normalcy Kim’s Convenience at Main Street Theater (May 17-June 15)The international hit Canadian television and Netflix comedy began as an Ins Choi play about the Kims a Korean-Canadian family running a neighborhood convenience store in Toronto While contending with new luxury buildings going up around the convenience store and a Walmart preparing to move in the Kims also must manage their traditional expectations for their children Their daughter and son are very much a product of their modern Kim receives an unexpected offer for his property Should he take the money and give in to developers or convince his daughter to follow in his footsteps and run the family business This Main Street production is the first time Houston will get a chance to see the original stage play that started the Kim’s Convenience streaming sensation and changed some of the rules of situation comedies In the Heights from Theatre Under the Stars (May 20-June 1)With music and lyrics by Hamilton author Lin-Manuel Miranda and book by Quiara Algeria Hudes In the Heights is set over three days in the Washington Heights neighborhood in NYC the show follows the daily struggles and celebrations of the people in Usnavi’s neighborhood as some of them question what home means to them there’s news of a winning lottery ticket and then an electrical blackout ends up shedding new light on family and romantic relationships and even the high price of college education making Heights just as relevant as when it debuted on Broadway in 2008 it’s the rich lives and songs of the characters that will bring the TUTS 2024-25 season to close on such a joyful note Private Lives at Alley Theatre (May 23-June 15)Though first staged in 1930 the reason that this Noël Coward classic comedy has withstood the test of time is that the show’s witty central couple became a model for almost a century of sexy bickering lovers to appear on stage and screen afterwards the Alley gives Private Lives a tango spin moving the sophisticated comedy from Europe to South America When divorced couple Elyot and Amanda accidentally find themselves honeymooning with their new spouses in adjacent rooms sparks fly and tempers flare in a whirlwind of passion and humor The Alley brings back acclaimed director KJ Sanchez to add that spicy twist to the relationships transporting audiences to 1930s Argentina and Uruguay Toros at Rec Room (May 24-June 14)After giving Houston audiences an original and reinvigorated take on the American classic Death of a Salesman last month Rec Room gets contemporary with this play about a trio of aimless twenty-somethings Toro is back in Madrid hanging out with his high school friends Juan and Andrea (and Juan’s dying golden retriever They spend their weekends exactly like they used to: chain-smoking pitis in Juan’s garage As sexual tensions emerge and old power dynamics get challenged these third-culture-kids struggle to grow up and find a version of reality to believe in This is a Rec production so look for a surreal twist to all this Gen Z angst perhaps in the role that veteran Houston actor Greg Dean is playing Raymonda from Houston Ballet (May 29-June 8)Dance lovers have certainly been anticipating this show ever since HB announced artistic director Stanton Welch would be creating a world premiere new vision for this most traditional classical ballet The original late 19th century storybook ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Russian composer Alexander Glazunov lacking some of the drama that modern audiences crave Welch has moved the original story set in the Middle Ages to a more fairytale realm the lovely young Raymonda and her sisters are destined to be betrothed to dukes from various countries But Raymonda's heart already belongs to another An evil plot by the queen’s trusted advisor may change the destiny of Raymonda and her one true love look for lavish sets and costumes by acclaimed Italian designer Roberta Guidi di Bagno Raymonda is sure to become a treasured classic amongst Houston Ballet’s illustrious repertoire Let. Her. Rip. at Stages (May 30-June 22)When Stages announced their 2024-25 season they left the final pick to the incoming artistic director who has chosen this world premiere thriller play by Maggie Lou Rader It’s a work he helped to develop in his previous position as the director of new plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festival Houston will be the very first to see the first full production of this intriguing tale of camaraderie and ferocity which lies in the crosshairs of London’s Match Women labor movement and the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 and Nana are endeavoring to make the East End safer for women and all working people when the headlines move away from their accomplishments to the man murdering women of their community They must reignite their fight against deadly misogyny Dance lovers who saw Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch’s beautiful and fierce Maninyas back in February probably didn’t realize they were witnessing a dance with significant hidden history Maninyas was the Australian-born Welch’s first American commissioned work when it had its 1996 world premiere in San Francisco Seeing that premiere inspired Ben Stevenson Houston Ballet's artistic director at the time to invite Welch to create a piece for the company eventually paving the way for Welch to serve as the company's artistic director Houston Ballet appoints Sonja Kostich as the organization’s next Executive Director It seems those dance waves from Maninyas continue to reverberate for on stage for that 1996 world premiere performance was acclaimed ballerina Sonja Kostich And today Houston Ballet announced Kostich will leap into the role of Houston Ballet executive director beginning in August Kostich assumes the directorship after major triumphs in roles onstage and behind executive desks across the dance world Kostich trained at the prestigious School of Classical Ballet Then at 17 she was chosen by Baryshnikov himself to join the American Ballet Theatre Such began a impressive career dancing with the San Francisco Ballet and collaborations with renowned director Peter Sellars One of Kostich’s big endeavor mixing dance and entrepreneurship came in 2008 when she co-founded the contemporary dance company OtherShore in New York She also served as co-director for six years earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the Zicklin School of Business at CUNY Baruch College where she graduated Salutatorian at age 42 She also completed a master's degree in arts administration Kostich's professional experience includes roles at Goldman Sachs she was Chief Executive and Artistic Officer of Kaatsbaan Cultural Park leading a successful rebranding and revitalization of the organization Kostich has served as president and executive director of Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City Her work at the Center likely caught the HB board’s eye as her tenure helped to achieve financial stability and increase both earned and contributed income to record-breaking levels while engaging new “We are thrilled to welcome Sonja Kostich to Houston Ballet,” said Kristy Bradshaw “Our board has worked diligently to ensure the continued financial strength and operational excellence of our company building on the legacy of our retiring executive director It is through this solid foundation — marked by fiscal stewardship and a highly capable organizational structure that we have been able to attract such remarkable talent in Kostich and leadership will further elevate our company on the global stage We look forward to this exciting new chapter for Houston Ballet.” Kostich has as many good things to say about the company as the board does about welcoming her “Houston Ballet is an exemplary company with exceptional artists and a robust history of supporters and audience goers,” said Kostich “I am deeply humbled and honored to build upon the company's remarkable legacy and look forward to developing thoughtful and valuable long-term relationships within the community Ballet as an art form has a phenomenal capacity to generate real inspiration and engagement in all ages." Along with collaborating with Welch in the past Kostich also has ties to the company’s co-artistic director Kent and Kostich overlapped during their dance careers at the American Ballet Theatre Both Welch and Kent also sing Kostich’s praises “I am thrilled that Sonja will be joining Houston Ballet as executive director She will be an excellent partner to bring Houston Ballet into our next chapter,” said Welch “Along with her exceptional leadership capabilities Sonja will also bring a level of unique dance expertise that will enhance our Company.” “I very much look forward to what will be a highly collaborative experience that will only elevate what Houston Ballet can achieve Sonja’s extraordinary talents and drive are a perfect match for our future goals.” The feelings are mutuals from Kostich who ended her statement saying “I am thrilled by this opportunity to work with Stanton and Julie truly accomplished and respected artistic leaders as we work together on a firm vision for the limitless potential for the future of Houston Ballet.” will assume the title of executive advisor Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application the son of Mary Ann Massey and the late Richard Hamlet Crocker He was an electrical engineer with QSI Company Left to cherish his many memories are his daughters: Alexia “Kayde” Smith and Journey Lynn Crocker; his mother: Mary Ann Massey; two sisters: Taylor Hyder (Chris) Ashlie Middleton; one nephew: Logan Merchant; four nieces: Aaliyah Grubbs He is also survived by numerous other loved ones and friends The memorial service to honor Richard’s life will be held at 1:00 PM on Friday The family will greet friends following the service Richard’s memories will live for years to come in the hearts of his family and friends The arrangements are entrusted into the care of Floyd’s Greenlawn Chapel Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Lincoln Center’s Big Umbrella Festival has brought programming to its 16-acre campus that’s been created especially with neurodivergent audiences of all ages in mind This season’s edition runs through April 20 an outdoor installation that will be open in Damrosch Park each weekend the Director of Programming at Lincoln Center larger-than-life spinning tops that are available to spin or lie on them including a version for individuals with mobility needs.” The Big Umbrella Festival culminates with a truly original production that has its New York premiere at Alice Tully Hall on April 19: director and writer Chela De Ferrari’s reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet starring a cast of eight actors with Down syndrome Instead of dramatizing the story of the Danish prince who could not make up his mind about whether to avenge his father the king’s murder at the hands of his uncle and mother De Ferrari recenters the play to focus on the entire cast all of whom play Hamlet at various points of the performance De Ferrari—who is founder and director of the Peruvian theater company Teatro la Plaza—had already adapted several Shakespeare works But she wanted to wait until she could find the right actor before she decided to take on Hamlet De Ferrari says that she was inspired when she met one of the ushers at the Teatro La Plaza “He presented himself not as an usher but as an actor,” she explains “Jaime told me about his dream of being onstage as an actor and I thought of the new possibilities of what an actor (with Down syndrome) could bring to this play.” De Ferrari understands that such an approach might be contentious “I thought it would be a provocation, of course,” she says “But it’s an approach that would give a new meaning to ‘to be or not to be’—I thought it was important to put a text of great value in the hands of a group to whom society doesn’t give value it’s an apparent contradiction that turns out is really not.” In De Ferrari’s adaptation, the legacy of Hamlet being played by great actors is referenced, both humorously (in the case of an appearance by Ian McKellen) and poignantly (in the case of a clip from Laurence Olivier’s 1948 Oscar- winning film version) “We wanted to find ways to get the cast members to better know Hamlet without reading the entire play in either English or a Spanish translation,” De Ferrari said Jaime was nervous about reciting one of the famous monologues and wanted help—I thought about a Peruvian actor who played Hamlet but he was unavailable To create a play which foregrounds a group of performers that are usually shunted to the side De Ferrari and her actors embarked on a long journey of several months of research that included extensive input from everyone “I had long interviews with the actors to collect anecdotes that could relate to Hamlet as well as other characters and specific scenes in the play,” she notes “I wrote (the adaptation) based on those ideas and after awhile we found that we were very comfortable with one another—they even laughed at my jokes and it was very profound to see these performers become empowered and turn into real actors and actresses.” The results are onstage for all to see “There’s a truth and beauty in how they deliver the text,” she says we wanted to show the diversity in the performances to show that professional actors aren’t the only way to connect to audiences we’ve traveled together and all of us are grateful for this experience." Visit LincolnCenter.org Noah Himmelstein will direct Matthew Puckett's original musical Neumann is the Tony nominated choreographer behind Hadestown and Swept Away one Tony winner is playing the trumpet while the other is channeling Madame Rose Due to the expansive nature of Off-Broadway and institutes have been revealed by the industry stalwart Thank You!You have now been added to the list Blocking belongson the stage,not on websites Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you May 1, 2025 | | 6 Proponents of this development have been asked to disclose any special or financial interest I appreciated the several proponents who recently disclosed their financial interests in the project at a recent PZC hearing. It is natural for them to want it to proceed and they have every right to say so Westport Journal has quoted Mr. Guimond extensively here and he has spoken publicly several times. I believe Mr. Guimond has an additional undisclosed interest in supporting The Hamlet development. His property at 471 Riverside appears to be listed as a “Waterfront Development Opportunity” with 200 feet of waterfront. Good for him. Just be honest about the reasons for advocacy. https://www.471riverside.com/ This lady has a lot to say about transparency This Hamlet project continues to morph into a Fellini movie The initial architectural palette presented for our small New England town was “Southeast Asia Resort” The current round of renderings have morphed into a 19th century “NYC Meatpacking District” replica with what appears to be a faux cast iron ground floor base a brick facade body and arched windows identifying the top floor terminating with a cornice Henry-Russell Hitchcock must be rolling in his grave with laughter In a nod to the former NY Mets manager Casey Stengel’s famous quote during their painful debut season in 1962; “Can’t anybody here design an authentic building?” Which architectural genre will be presented next; a Frank Gehry Bilbao Hamlet concept I’m surprised you didn’t mention the gardens it’s been for sale since 90s and I’ve floated development since early 2000 which isn’t a mystery as my goal is Survival Not everybody is as privileged as you to have a property on 72nd and 2nd in Manhattan and a weekend home in Westport work hard to maintain and try to survive in this community Saugatuck proper is not just a parking lot Most against this development live outside the “slice” which I find interesting but have we resorted to smear campaigns on blogs (like you attempted here) or hiring attorneys to try to manipulate P+Z meetings and stack the speakers to block town folk from speaking early in the meeting like was done on Monday… no lay the cards where they may and work towards a project that we all love The work that was done for the up zone in 2022 was extensive and everyone in town had plenty opportunity to speak on it P and Z held the developer to the fire to reduce the size of what they wanted to do you might want something like Saugatuck center I find it insulting that you and your anonymous alliance try to smear locals and buy ad space and spin social media to instill fear in the community by misrepresenting what’s the developers trying to do all because you want to be able to cut through to go to Trader Joe’s or park your car close to the platform If these properties were next to your home or on the island or on stony point I wonder what the timeline to clean it up would be To anyone late to the game I urge you to go on westportct.gov look in P+Z archives on 11-21-22 at about 1 hour and 7 mins in and watch the short PowerPoint I am transparent and honest about my advocacy for various public matters is my primary residence and not my “second home.” My husband and I worked hard for 30 years or more before retiring some years ago we are among your dreaded the “over 50” crowd and our challenges are more along the lines of staying healthy and keeping our property taxes paid You’ll understand that better when you’ve get a few more years in We live on a fixed income and our investments and use a part of that to retain my NYC coop but aging in place in Westport is not easy My property taxes pay for the amenities we enjoy in Westport as well as the schools you send YOUR children to Yes I am extremely fortunate to live in a place like Westport Because we are older and in a different lifecycle place than you doesn’t make your needs more important than ours or anyone else’s no other developers are bidding or competing who have exerted influence on a previous formation of pnz panelists in order to change the zoning laws for this one spot for this normally illegal “spot zoning” was put forth as the only way to save Westport from unknown shady developers who would not be so nice about exploiting the state laws in support of housing for poor people “We have to be able to go way overboard with this development and with obscene changes to regulations that are in place to protect Westporters these regulations must be zapped” to paraphrase What do Westport elites fear most– poor folk– barely leaving a trace…hmmm…wonder wonder wonder What is the biggest use-case connected to a transit hub and train station A meatpacking district..no…3 fancy hotels…no… Parking and traffic….obviously…the town has failed us in this regard Everytime i head out to the station to catch a train When i was a kid we had traffic cops keeping things moving They got buildings that look like these propasals in south norwalk… we need to have redlight district or the gangs are gonna take over…when does it end! You must be logged in to post a comment I agree with the Comment Policy All rights reserved.Reproduction of material from westportjournal.com without written permission is strictly prohibited All of the money donated here is added to Westport Journal’s editorial budget Please make your donation recurring if you can You and all of our readers will benefit from your generosity Hiran Abeysekera will take on the titular role Tom Millward The National Theatre has announced casting for its new production of Hamlet, heading to the Lyttelton Theatre stage this autumn as part of Indhu Rubasingham‘s inaugural season as the venue’s new director Siobhán Redmond as First Player and Geoffrey Streatfeild as Polonius The production will feature set and costume design by Ben Stones Casting is by Alastair Coomer and Martin Poile Hamlet will run at the Lyttelton Theatre from 25 September to 22 November 2025 It will also be filmed for a global National Theatre Live release Listen to a free exclusive WhatsOnStage Podcast about the season here: Get the best deals and latest updates on theatre and shows by signing up for WhatsOnStage newsletter today Contact: Mary Margaret Balzli Miss.—Mississippi State’s Lyceum Series continues with one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies—“Hamlet.” Actors From The London Stage will give the performance March 4, 7 p.m., in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium. The show is free for MSU students, $25 for MSU employees and senior citizens, and $30 for general admission. Tickets are available at www.events.msstate.edu Actors From The London Stage is one of the world’s oldest touring Shakespeare companies Each member of this self-directed ensemble portrays multiple roles while using minimal props and costumes to create a distinctive theatrical experience The Lyceum Series is MSU’s longest running performance arts series and is a key part of the university’s continued commitment to the arts. For more information about the 2025 season and tickets, visit www.lyceum.msstate.edu or call 662-325-2930 Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu Thom Yorke thought it was madness. “I never associated music favourably with Shakespeare,’ says the Radiohead frontman ‘I saw his work as something totemic so applying our music to it initially seemed a kind of sacrilege.” He adjusts his thick black glasses and lets slip a small grin “But I’m always up for a little bit of sacrilege.” director and designer Christine Jones was at Madison Square Garden as Radiohead played the new tracks of their soon-to-be Grammy Award-winning album propulsive songs were still circling her mind a few months later as she was designing a production of Hamlet The album had not been intentionally influenced by the play but uncanny similarities between them began to appear to Jones “I was haunted by this idea of them being in dialogue with each other,” she says describing the echoes between them like ghost sightings “Both look at the complexity of what it is to be human to delude yourself and to be deluded by your government To find your moral compass within the world.” She started to imagine a production where their dark teetering interrogations of distrust and paranoia “That’s how I judge things a lot,” says Yorke “if they stick in here.” He read that Shakespeare would commission leading composers of the day to write songs and he would collaborate with them “They weren’t just ditties,” Yorke says “they were structural parts of his work.” Perhaps the suggestion for this cross-form production is not so radical after all; the creative team are simply responding to an invitation offered 400 years earlier.   Jones cut the text down from a four-hour epic to something taking the shape of roughly 90 minutes Beginning to experiment with layering music underneath the edited text Yorke quickly saw that it wouldn’t work to play the songs in the order of the track list – or to play the complete songs at all shattered pieces of glass,” he explains “glued back together.” Radiohead made the original album quickly and Yorke always felt it was “the record that got away.” This has given him a chance to revisit it for a new purpose.   As movement and music started to come to the forefront of the story instead of having to say it all?” Jones asks “Distillation in service of illumination.”   Unlocking a different kind of language is Steven Hoggett co-director and Jones’ frequent collaborator Co-founder of acclaimed physical theatre company Frantic Assembly “When I met Steven,” Jones says “I felt this was the person I came to New York to find.” They were fuelled by working together on productions including American Idiot When Jones asked Hoggett to come on board for this project he went back to listen to how the album suggested itself for the text “It was thrilling to feel there was something  happening already and we didn’t have to approach it with a crowbar,” he says “We just had to give it a nudge.” “I’ve never known that,” Yorke muses “Movement only came when I was able to put a guitar down “you just start doing things.” Yorke’s actions on stage are instinctive; Hoggett’s process is similarly so “You look for the emotional register,” the co-director says describing the way the company devises together “We’re not telling the actors to physicalise ‘to be or not to be’ That’s never going to work.” Instead he and choreographer Jess Williams set tasks in the rehearsal room “What is it to drive towards someone with a fury When are you internally true and when are you externally playing a game?” They try to be sly in their direction “We build the architecture of the movement and then we chip away at it,” he says “Otherwise you just end up driving towards the middle eight.” The whole production flinches from neatness Yorke wants to avoid the music seeming overly illustrative “in the sense that a musician draws lines that follow the emotional path of what’s happening.” He believes that does a disservice to both text and music “I want them to rub up against each other,” he says of the two source materials There should be tension between them.” This agitation seeps through the entire play; examining the kind of internal distress that makes too-solid flesh crawl the team have been looking at Robert Longo’s writhing drawings and Egon Schiele’s contorted paintings.”They’re people trying to hide but their bodies betray them,” Jones says That’s what the team is seeking through movement: a feeling of bodies being hijacked by music.   Sitting somewhere between a recording studio a sound testing chamber and an interrogation room solidifying the sense of being observed and overheard “We’re not trying to overtly comment on the world right now,” Jones says firmly noting the lack of a specific time and place The reverberations with present day are implicit and they are wary of putting anything too prescriptive in the way of the story “Despite having called a record Hail to the Thief,” Yorke concedes the words nabbed from the news during anti-Bush protests “I think it’s a death knell for any piece of work to be described as ‘political’ and then be cornered forevermore having to contextualise that.” Like the idea of this collaboration “I was at its mercy.” Rather than dictate its intentions they want the production to pose questions “What’s my place in the world?” Jones considers “How do I try to understand things through poetry “There was a moment,” Hoggett says with a puff of laughter “when I realised how many bad versions there are of someone who isn’t Thom singing a Radiohead song.” It wasn’t until they got into the rehearsal room with the band that he could let go of that fear “Everything started to become possible.” This sense of raw potential drives their continual discovery “I feel most undone when theatre is unbridled and you don’t know what’s going to happen next,” says Jones I feel giddy with anticipation of what we might find.” Originally commissioned for the Hamlet Hail to the Thief programme Kate Wyver is a theatre critic and features writer based in London.   Rolling Stone UK is published by Stream Publishing Ltd A king's ghost puts his son on a bloody quest against the brother who killed him to take the throne and queen If the prince were a hulking mass of brawn and rage it would make for a pretty decent Marvel film isn't built to carry out revenge in any way and really has no place in his royal family as a whole we're talking about the title character of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," which opens April 17 at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery was in its first drafts in the early 1600s when the idea of a revenge drama was new and very popular With "Hamlet," Shakespeare took that concept and turned it on its head with a main character who "Hamlet is not that," said director Brian McEleney 'What if that's the person who was chosen to be the avenger?'" who was cast to play Hamlet for this production a year ago said it's a version of the character that he could get behind who played Sherlock Holmes in ASF's 2024 production of "Baskerville." "Hamlet" also asks audiences to question whether vengeance is the right response Hamlet also contemplates the value of life itself in the famous graveyard scene: "To be but "Hamlet" shows his result of traveling his father's path to revenge "Hamlet tries everything in his power to not pick up the cards his father plays to him," McEleney said Hamlet ultimately completes his father's mission More: Are you on the hunt for Easter weekend fun? Here are the area's egg hunts and festivals McEleney said the cast has been fantastic to work with "One of the great things about this play is that every character is completely well-drawn by Shakespeare," he said "Every character has something really deep and important going on." Chapman said he's grateful to be working with a talented cast that has veteran actors like Greta Lambert as Polonius and Rodney Clark as Gravedigger He also has a previous connection to McEleney "He was my teacher in graduate school when I was training," Chapman said More: Things to do in Montgomery for April 17-23 The early English language of Shakespeare's day has been retained but McEleney and Chapman said audiences should be able to clearly understand what's happening the language is the character," said Chapman who spent the past year building up is muscle memory for Elizabethan English "My goal when I go in is to fully inhabit that language moment to moment and really communicate it with the people I'm acting with Then I don't have to think about becoming Hamlet McEleney said his main goal was to make the play as accessible More: Live music in Montgomery area for April 17-23 The only real change from Shakespeare's original is to shorten the length from around 4 hours to about 2 and a half "Hamlet" runs through May 4 on ASF's Festival Stage. Tickets are available at asf.net I hope they come away wanting to see more Shakespeare," Chapman said Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com Thom Yorke has shed light on how the Hamlet Hail To The Thief production connects to Radiohead‘s ‘Hail To The Thief’ The show is based on Radiohead‘s 2003 record with Yorke joining forces with Tony and Olivier Award-winning directors Steven Hoggett and Christine Jones to create a contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet Ahead of opening night, they sat down with The Observer to discuss their collaboration, with Yorke revealing that despite apparent synchronicities the album and the Shakespearian tragedy share, “Hamlet was not in our minds when we made the record.” “I don’t not subscribe to the synchronicity thing,” he added. “You know, the one about The Wizard of Oz and ‘Dark Side of the Moon’; you watch a movie, turn the sound down, put on another soundtrack and something is revealed. But, obviously, my initial reaction was, this is Hamlet, therefore it’s sacrosanct, it’s untouchable. You can’t. But the idea didn’t go away. It planted a little seed in my head.” A post shared by Radiohead (@radiohead) Yorke personally reworked and orchestrated the record for the production, with the project described as a “feverish new live experience, fusing theatre, music and movement”. Earlier this month, NME got an exclusive look at behind-the-scenes photos from the show, which you can check out here Jones had noticed 20 years earlier that the record seemed to echo some of the play’s dialogue at times, explaining that both “start with a question”. Yorke went on to say their approach to combining the two made it feel “holy”, adding that it was good to revisit ‘Hail To The Thief‘ because he felt there was “unfinished business” there it just all turned to shit,” he explained So this has been a healthy process for me especially it’s been a way of claiming back what the original sentiment was This whole thing was more open than just that one idea of ‘Hail To The Thief’.” Having hosted its world premiere at Aviva Studios in Manchester yesterday (April 27) the production is now set to run through May 18 before moving over to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford where it will run from June 4 until June 28 A post shared by Factory International (@factory_international) Elsewhere, rumours of a Radiohead tour have continued to swirl after the band formed a new legal entity suggesting they may be planning significant activity in 2025 Then, a fire relief auction listed tickets for a potential tour after they were donated by a company called Blueyed Pictures But a spokesperson for Radiohead has since confirmed that Blueyed Pictures does not manage the band and has no affiliation with them The original Radiohead listing was also removed and replaced by a generic offer of “four premier concert tickets” instead They also recently announced plans for a special global screening event a day ahead of the LP’s official release. You can purchase tickets here The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952 Robert O’Hara will direct the production later this spring David Gordon The Pitt star Patrick Ball will headline a new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from director Robert O’Hara it will run Ma 28-July 6 at the Mark Taper Forum He’ll be joined in this “Hitchcockian noir take on Hamlet” by Coral Peña as Ophelia The creative team of Hamlet includes dramaturg and associate director Nicholas Polonio The musical opens at the Imperial Theatre on April 10 Get the best deals and latest updates on theater and shows by signing up for TheaterMania's newsletter today Reviews I dreamed that I was the producer and director of an animated film The film was of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet as enacted by Donald Duck and other denizens of the Disney universe played the melancholy Dane; Daisy was Ophelia; Uncle Scrooge McDuck played Polonius; and Mickey Mouse was Laertes Not to the extent that I couldn’t get other work done but certainly to the extent that some people close to be became convinced that a visit to a “rest home” might be in order a part of me mourns the death of a beautiful dream when I heard of the existence of a motion picture called “Grand Theft Hamlet,” why I might jump at the chance to check it out is exactly what the title implies: a chronicle of an attempt to stage Shakespeare’s play in the virtual space afforded by the famed video game “Grand Theft Auto.” If you’re not a gamer and don’t keep up with certain realms of digital development you’re probably not familiar with the reality that you can enter a contemporary video game and spend an awful lot of time not actually playing it why not get into theater if you’re not in the mood to steal cars and drive them very fast Out-of-work actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen conceived the project during the COVID lockdown non-gamers may conclude that these guys were already crazy in some way.) And they took it seriously from the outset They scouted locations within the “GTA” world (It does in fact contain an amphitheater.)  They held auditions (The game can be played with almost limitless players online.) They convinced the gaming community that they were not They indeed seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time on this last activity So much so that the fellows are often close to heartbreak This adds a perhaps unexpected poignancy to the story And it also makes their Hamlet noteworthy in a way that perhaps they didn’t even expect When Crane finally speaks the “to be or not to be” soliloquy he doesn’t sound like he’s acting How he came to inhabit the role sure is unusual and you may feel like giving him a standing ovation after all entertaining and moving examination of interdisciplinary conductivity at its most surprising Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here Office of Communications and Public AffairsNovember 6 Editor’s note: The following release was written by Allison Munck ’27 for W&L’s Lenfest Center for the Arts Dance and Film Studies at Washington and Lee University is pleased to present the world premiere of the 90-minute adaptation of “Hamlet 50/50.” Performances will take place in the Johnson Theatre in the Lenfest Center for the Arts on Nov with a Q&A session with the adapting playwrights following the opening performance There will also be a bonus performance on Tuesday at The American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton Tickets are required and available online or in person at the Lenfest Box Office Adapted by Vanessa Morosco and Peter Simon Hilton “Hamlet 50/50” combines the timeless spirit of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” with a restructuring of gender roles and character status to create a compelling and more gender-equitable production The adaptation preserves the original story and language with a gendered reimagining of the dialogue “To be or not to be?” and what if it were Gertrude who ruled instead of Claudius who wanted to allow students to work with a Shakespearean production while also telling a story informed by the world they know Because of the “forward-thinking” nature of the adaptation Owen Collins and guest fight director Jeremy West decided to set it in the future “This production continues to honor the beauty of Shakespeare’s language and does not distort the story we know but it does create more gender balance on stage,” Levy said agrees that the production still “feels like Shakespeare – only if Shakespeare were to write for more women.” In addition remarked that there are unique challenges to performing a fundamentally Shakespearean show “We have to make sure we’re bringing the words to life the unique shifts in character dynamics in this adaptation add dimension to every role Hamlet is not only vulnerable toward the audience but also within his on-stage relationships and the changes “force Hamlet to be a much less solitary figure in the production,” Chang said “Hamlet 50/50” promises to be a compelling and one-of-a-kind show elegantly combining Shakespeare with a contemporary understanding of gender equality in a production you don’t want to miss Order your tickets online today or call the Lenfest Center box office at 540-458-8000 for ticket purchase information $14 for W&L faculty and staff and $8 for students For a full list of this season’s performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website and Film Studies and the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts dance and performance art in one energizing complex Vanessa Morosco has adapted and directed Shakespeare’s plays for universities and has used Shakespeare’s text to train business and continuing legal education professionals in leadership and cultural transformation Recently named executive director of the American Shakespeare Center (ASC) Morosco has directed or performed in more than 25 Shakespeare plays at the ASC’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton Peter Simon Hilton is a playwright and translator whose work has been produced across Europe and the United States He has developed more than 250 drama-based diversity equity and inclusion training programs for companies and business schools across the world He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America board member of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London and has performed in more than 40 productions of Shakespeare’s plays By Ivan Lopez For the 12th consecutive year, FIU Theatre and GableStage are partnering to bring Shakespeare to Miami-Dade public schools through the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools tour introducing students to the timeless themes of Shakespeare’s work in a fresh and accessible way Directed by associate professor Michael Yawney this adaptation of Hamlet centers on the struggles of a younger generation striving to make sense of the world around them The abridged version homes in on the familial tensions at the heart of the play ensuring high school audiences can connect with its emotional core “This play is the story of two families Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s,” says Yawney “Cutting the script to focus on the family story keeps the emotional core of the story while foregrounding the elements most relatable for high school students We can all feel alone in our feelings at times Teens seeing Hamlet and Ophelia going through the same parent-child angst 400 years ago that they experience today in Miami provides some perspective.” The cast features six recent FIU Theatre alumni giving them a valuable professional opportunity while engaging with the community who plays Hamlet and also works at GableStage this marks his third Shakespeare-in-the-Schools tour “Taking Shakespeare into the schools sparks so much interest and curiosity for many students who haven’t seen or read it before,” says Krogh “It’s not only important for it to be taught in school but to be seen and and it creates one of the most powerful connections between performer and audience that I have ever experienced.” Each performance is accompanied by a study guide created by GableStage resident dramaturg Ali Tallman and followed by a post-show discussion with the cast The program has grown significantly in recent years expanding from 12 schools in 2022 to 23 schools in 2024 with a projected reach of between 4,300 and 6,300 students across 32 performances and 23 schools in 2025 “GableStage and FIU Theatre’s Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program continues to enrich the cultural fabric of our community fostering a deeper appreciation of the arts in our public schools,” says Brian Schriner dean of FIU’s College of Communication Architecture + The Arts and a GableStage board member highlights the impact of the program: “With this program we’re making Shakespeare come alive for students offering a fresh perspective on classic themes and showing them the relevance of these stories in their own lives.” the tour strengthens the growing relationship between FIU Theatre and GableStage This partnership has created a pathway for FIU Theatre alumni to gain professional experience while making theatre more accessible to young audiences “Seeing these actors sharing soliloquies with the kids and inviting them into an imagined world is inspiring,” says Yawney “The connection between open-hearted young actors and open-hearted teens is something powerful enough to change the world.” Newport also emphasizes the value of the FIU-GableStage collaboration “Our partnership with FIU is a game changer—it gives promising young alumni what is often their first professional opportunity while taking transformative vibrant Shakespeare directly into Miami-Dade County’s diverse schools.” The Shakespeare-in-the-Schools tour is presented free of charge underscoring the commitment of both GableStage and FIU Theatre to arts education and accessibility which allows them to experience live theatre that might otherwise be out of reach The program also complements GableStage’s 2024-25 mainstage season, which concludes with Fat Ham a Pulitzer Prize-winning modern adaptation of Hamlet The play includes FIU assistant professor Melvin Huffnagle in the cast GableStage has remained dedicated to bringing impactful theatre to South Florida and continues to push boundaries producing vital and thought-provoking works while maintaining a strong commitment to arts education through programs like Shakespeare-in-the-Schools Receive daily FIU stories and updates directly to your inbox WARWICK, R.I. – “Hamlet” is a play of excesses It is Shakespeare’s longest work, clocking in at five acts and 30,557 words in its unabridged form. Those words focus largely on the inner thoughts of the play’s endlessly philosophizing and fatally indecisive protagonist who has been commanded by his father’s ghost to avenge his father’s murder can be found in Hamlet’s frequent soliloquies with one – “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I,” where Hamlet expresses his frustration for not being bold enough to take his murderous uncle’s life – running 55 lines the play indulges in the killing off of more of its central characters than any other of the Bard’s plays complete with a roiling wake and video-projected waves At the Gamm Theatre – which credits “Hamlet” for putting it on the theatrical map in 1997 when the then Providence-based playhouse was known as the Alias Stage – the play gets a streamlined production that shuns high concept for grand dramatic gestures Michael McGarty’s bare-boned scenic design consists of a multi-tier labyrinth of weathered wood platforms and stairs in front of a translucent black scrim Nothing hints at a particular time in history for this play to take place reinforced by Mikayla Reid’s ambiguous costume design that vaguely suggests somewhere between the post-Civil war through pre-World War I America the costuming serves to define each character’s station and status and separate the younger from the older generation All this creates a desired timeless quality for this play which allows us to focus on the words and the intriguingly drawn and marvelously performed characters delivering them Jeff Adelberg’s lighting design does the heavy lifting in this production oversaturated spotlighting constantly isolates each performer from the surrounding darkness that fills the stage and adds drama and foreboding shadows to everything It also accentuates small but formidable acting moments – such as the tear falling from Rosencrantz’s eye (an engaging Abigail Milnor-Sweetser) when she first betrays her old friend Hamlet and the flash of emotional pain that briefly crosses Ophelia’s face (a brilliant Nora Eschenheimer) when Hamlet rejects her love – that might otherwise go undetected beyond the second row Each scene abruptly ends with a complete blackout accompanied by a deafening percussive beat for speed is of the essence for director Tony Estrella as he works hard to not only keep his production at three hours but in line with the speedreading given by Jeff Church in the title role Church’s Hamlet is marred by moments of melancholy and blinded by bitterness but mostly he is a man of great passion that manifests in his quick well-articulated speech and hurried physicality So passionate is this Hamlet that he has no time for stairs – choosing instead to climb onto platforms and leap onto tables – and literally bowls over his mother Gertrude (Jeanine Kane) and his childhood friends Ophelia (Eschenheimer) and Laertes (Marc Pierre) when accosting them with fervent speeches He does the same when greeting Polonius (Joe Penczak) with a knife to the chest and comes close when accosting his Uncle Claudius (Kelby Akin) Church pauses at all the right places to add weight to the words and make the heightened language of Shakespeare’s text sound as if it was newly discovered Like the bread in an Italian restaurant and the desserts in a French café the true litmus test for a production of “Hamlet” is the sword fight The fatal foil exchange between Church’s Hamlet and Pierre’s Laertes Not a thrust is telegraphed or anticipated and the outcome – for those unfamiliar with the play’s complete title Prince of Denmark” – is always in question until it’s not this Gamm Theatre production astounds with its subtlety Play by William Shakespeare. Directed by Tony Estrella. At the Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick. Runs through April 27. Tickets $65-$75, plus fees. 401-723-4266, gammtheatre.org Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle. Connect with him on Facebook. Home Delivery Gift Subscriptions Log In Manage My Account Customer Service Delivery Issues Feedback News Tips Help & FAQs Staff List Advertise Newsletters View the ePaper Order Back Issues News in Education Search the Archives Privacy Policy Terms of Service Terms of Purchase Work at Boston Globe Media Internship Program Co-op Program Do Not Sell My Personal Information There aren't a lot of places where Shakespeare has never been performed but the riotous (in every possible sense of the word) new film Grand Theft Hamlet finds one The action is to borrow a phrase from Macbeth "full of sound and fury," largely because it takes place entirely inside the online video game Grand Theft Auto The idea for the project was hatched during the pandemic lockdown when "to be or not to be an actor" was a serious question Gathering indoors with masks was a non-starter for a lot of people out-of-work actor pals Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen were communicating mostly through their video game avatars in GTA and ran up an embankment and discovered what looked a lot like the Hollywood Bowl — a huge amphitheater with a stage they started soliloquizing and soon attracted onlookers almost immediately pulled out flamethrowers and rocket launchers "If I could just request that you refrain from killing each other," pleaded Sam But the police showed up in helicopters and soon the amphitheater was littered with corpses "I wonder if you could actually stage something here," mused Mark and when Sam responded that it'd be difficult because gamers blow stuff up and shoot people he countered that "people are violent in Shakespeare She started recording everything — this film is technically a documentary — and offered to help them film an in-game promotional video to get other gamers involved When the video shoot became a battleground it worked better than any of them expected Several random gamers showed up to audition including a Tunisian whose avatar was a naked green alien He hadn't memorized any Shakespeare but recited a bit of the Quran It soon became clear that performing in the amphitheater didn't make sense when all the digital world's a stage so they started staging Act Two in a subway Act Four atop a high-flying blimp where the real challenge was not falling to their deaths every few lines "It's like Shakespeare on a billion-dollar budget," someone notes Also intriguing is the mid-pandemic camaraderie that reassures the out-of-work principals They have understandable bouts of melancholy — ones that track so well with the lines they speak as the melancholy Dane that it doesn't always sound like they're "acting." and I say that as a theater critic who's caught 37 before this The film Grand Theft Hamlet is constantly surprising and a great introduction to Shakespeare — or to video games — whichever you need introducing to Become an NPR sponsor Ahead of the premiere of Hamlet: Hail To The Thief, a new trailer has been shared for the new interpretation of Shakespeare, set to the music of Radiohead The show is currently in previews in Manchester and features the sounds of the band’s seminal 2003 album Hail To The Thief, with frontman Thom Yorke deconstructing the record into a score that elevates the play and is performed by live musicians the new trailer offers a sneak peak at the brooding and atmospheric production ahead of its first performance Speaking to Rolling Stone UK Yorke recently explained how he was initially sceptical of the idea when approached by co-director Christine Jones “I never associated music favourably with Shakespeare,” said the Radiohead frontman “I saw his work as something totemic so applying our music to it initially seemed a kind of sacrilege But I’m always up for a little bit of sacrilege.” shattered pieces of glass,” he explains of the album’s re-interpretation “Shakespeare’s great tragedy and Radiohead’s seminal album collide for a feverish experience that fuses theatre “In this frenetic distillation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece Elsinore has become a surveillance state and hectic runs in the blood of its citizens. Hamlet Hail to the Thief centres on Hamlet and Ophelia’s awakening to the lies and corruption revealed by ghosts and music Paranoia reigns and no one is spared a tragic unravelling.” Hamlet Hail to the Thief is running at Aviva Studios Manchester until 18 May 2025 before transferring to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford Upon Avon from 4 June – 28 June 2025 analogue where even the good guys have weapons and a nihilistic streak — the vengeful Prince of Denmark fits right in launches into one of the Bard’s monologues he’s often murdered by a fellow player within minutes the first attempt I’m aware of that attempts to do the whole thing live in one go no matter if one of the virtual actors falls to their doom from a blimp “You can’t stop production just because somebody dies.” If you don’t know the tragedy going into the film you won’t be able to piece it together from what’s onscreen Ophelia barely registers; Gertrude gets less than two lines this is a classic let’s-put-on-a-pixilated-show tale about the need to create beauty in the world — even this violent world — especially when stage productions in England have shuttered to kill time speeding around the digital desert I once put on an 8-bit bass fishing game just to listen to the water Movies We’ve mapped out 27 of the best movie theaters in L.A. from the TCL Chinese and the New Beverly to the Alamo Drafthouse and which AMC reigns in Burbank The choice to do “Hamlet” in particular feels like settling on the first idea that comes to mind it’s practically unconscious — like being told to crayon a great painting and selecting the “Mona Lisa.” To our surprise (and theirs) the play’s tussles with depression and anguish and inertia become increasingly resonant as the production and the pandemic limps toward their conclusions When Crane and Oosterveen’s “Grand Theft Auto” avatars hop into a van with an anonymous gamer and ask this online stranger for his thoughts on Hamlet’s suicidal soliloquy a real-life delivery driver stuck at home with a broken leg “I don’t think I’m in the right place to be replying to this right now.” Paired alongside Shakespeare’s lines about grunting and sweating under a weary life even the non-playable background extras seem imbued with a soul The piano score can hit the sentimentality too hard chunks of the framework narrative seem to have fallen out of the film Crane frets over whether anyone from the National Theatre will watch the show a day lasts 48 minutes; a conversation might start in the sunshine and end at dusk We’ve barely adjusted to that when the film itself starts screwing with our sense of time and at one point reveals that the troupe has only four weeks to pull things together but I did a double take after learning that the final production took place in July 2021 I’ll call the film a documentary out of generosity it feels closer to stage-managed reality TV like when Crane and Grylls argue about his fixation on the game online huffing away in her avatar’s spandex skeleton costume the story arc is designed so that chaos keeps barging in most delightfully in the form of a scene stealer named ParTeb a goofball from Tunisia who presents as a saucy green alien Then he decides he’d rather shoot people from an airplane it’s more acceptable to wave a gun than recite verse but it’s still hard to survive as an artist Most of the creative people I’ve met in this town are hardscrabble hopefuls so it’s irritating when an Irish player snidely dismisses Los Angeles as “ultra I’d argue that both Los Angeles and Los Santos are places people go to so they can express who they really are — or pretend to be someone they’re not whether from a newly out trans woman who seems more at ease wearing high heels in Los Santos than she does around her family or a middle-aged female literary agent who auditions wearing her nephew’s bro-y avatar Rated: R, for language and some violenceRunning time: 1 hour, 29 minutesPlaying: In limited release Friday, Jan. 17 Amy Nicholson is the film critic of the Los Angeles Times. She is a current on-air voice at LAist and KCRW, and a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and the National Society of Film Critics. Her book “Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor” was printed by Cahiers du Cinema/Phaidon Press, and her second, “Extra Girls,” will be published by Simon & Schuster. Nicholson also co-hosts the movie podcast “Unspooled.” Hollywood Inc. Entertainment & Arts Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map Apr 28, 2025 | , | 1 Spring gardening will not be taking place at the Hyde Lane Community Garden the town chose the most delightful time of year… spring renewal… to shutter the community garden Sad gardeners dug and dismantled 20+ years of a showpiece community garden created by the hands and hearts of Westport residents It is Jen Tooker’s cold hearted legacy as she now turns her attention to higher office You must be logged in to post a comment Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Apr 29, 2025 | | 6 At the Architectural board meeting the ROAN representatives said they will not be doing a 3D walk through or scale model due to the cost The meeting last night was heavy on parking and traffic not nearly enough on the density and size of buildings The area will be turned into a mini city whose main focus will be getting people to come to Westport as some kind of destination I guess that is why three(!) hotels are necessary in tiny Saugatuck Without a casino (or the like) in this complex why would three hotels be necessary if these hotels are not profitable and potential residents are not enchanted by condos looking over I95 and the train tracks and costing millions We should hope that those plans are still viable despite also being somewhat too dense for the area I wish Roan had tapped Bruce Beinfeld for the design Saugatuck Center is an example of a successful new development in keeping with the area’s NE vibe Imagine Soviet era brutalist concrete hulking ominously thousands of units of low- income housing where people from every background Africa There is so much that can happen with Saugatuck What has been presented is a dishonest bait-and -swatch by elites for elites Roan Adventures should be ashamed for trying to exploit Westport and for temping our politicians into goung along with this development scam There are laws against spot zoning for these variously specific reasons Put yp an apartment building for low income housing not the real estate sell-out-fund with the fancy language And they say there is only traffic at certain times of the day…duh…thats when you are trying to catch a train… You must be logged in to post a comment Madness is a recurring theme in Shakespeare’s plays directly affects nearly every character as well as driving the plot forward Two characters in particular – Hamlet and Ophelia – display outward signs that Elizabethan audiences would have considered madness leading to one of literature's greatest and earliest explorations of the human psyche The question of whether Hamlet is truly mad or whether he is simply acting is one that audiences and scholars have enjoyed debating for centuries and still today brings into question our understanding of what ‘madness’ is there were recognisable outward signs of mania including: dishevelled dress and appearance babbled or nonsensical speaking and behaviour that is out of character Shakespeare pits these against different understandings of 'madness' from grief-induced melancholia to the rejection of social (or natural) norms to explore what it truly means to be 'mad' or 'sane' in a world where a brother can murder a brother and get away with it Following the discovery of his father’s murder Hamlet himself tells Horatio (and the audience) that he will feign an ‘antic disposition’ i.e In the following scenes he behaves and speaks in a strange manner unlike his usual demeanour Ophelia describes Hamlet before we see him he displays many Elizabethan signs of madness: To the court, his friends and family, he speaks in riddles that sound like nonsense (though even Polonius recognises that Hamlet is not completely without his senses The audience is clued in via Hamlet’s asides and soliloquys which alter in meter and rhythm to his ‘mad’ speech switching from loose prose to ordered verse he shows a rational understanding of reality even while he grapples with the need to act and fear or ultimate pointlessness of enacting his vengeance Hamlet deliberately feigns madness in public Hamlet’s perceived madness gives him a kind of free reign to speak truths and perform actions that would be more heavily scrutinised were he visibly sane the Clown or the Fool would be well known to speak uncomfortable truths via riddles and get away with it because of their lowly (and mentally questionable) status Hamlet being seemingly detached from his senses allows him to speak to his mother Polonius and his friends in supposed nonsense to distract from his true intentions – to find out whether or not his uncle murdered his father there are signs that Hamlet does genuinely suffer from other forms of ‘madness’ at least from an Elizabethan doctor's perspective we are told Hamlet is in mourning; both his dress and mood are "inky" and "solemn black" Claudius asks: "How is it that the clouds still hang on you?" and Gertrude says: "Good Hamlet cast thy nighted color off" as they try to persuade him that his mourning has gone on for too long and that it is unseemly behaviour ("’Tis unmanly grief.") disgust and fury at his father's death and his mother's swift remarriage leaving his view of the whole world dull and tainted: "How weary and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!" Hamlet expresses to Guildenstern and Rosencrantz the reason for his recent change in mood and behaviour: Today we may say that Hamlet is suffering from depression – the loss of happiness and a general dull or dark outlook on the world This kind of mental health condition is painted very differently to the kind of performative madness he displays to the court and appears genuinely in keeping with the tone of his soliloquies We also know Hamlet also performs alarming displays of what could be considered mania or delirium (today giving the impression of a frantic babble: Hamlet also behaves in a violent and cruel way towards his mother and Ophelia which their reactions suggest is out of character for him None of these – save perhaps his interaction with Ophelia – seem to be Hamlet ‘acting mad’ Hamlet’s supposed ‘madness’ allows for him to both act within and outside of the world of the court eventually trapping his uncle into a kind of confession But through Hamlet’s words and actions Shakespeare explores the complexity of the human reaction to grief we never see the inner workings of Ophelia’s mind But though her madness looks similar to Hamlet's (she is dishevelled and speaks in riddles) we can be fairly certain that her mental decline is not an act we hear about her mental state before we see her A Gentleman of the court describes Ophelia’s behaviour to Gertrude and how she talks about her father: we can see this isn't just a show of insanity because: Ophelia speaks to both the loss of her virginity and Hamlet's rejection of her While Hamlet's ‘madness’ is sometimes performed comically Ophelia’s madness is usually shown as a tragic mirroring knock-on effects of Hamlet’s behaviour on other characters in the play Caught in the crossfire of Hamlet's actions Ophelia's madness and death is arguably one of the most tragic outcomes of the play as she is shown to have very little agency in life or death sanity or insanity - a contrast to Hamlet's quest for agency and self-knowledge Madness is used in many ways in Hamlet - it's used to disguise the truth (Hamlet's true motives) as well as reveal it (the truth in Hamlet's riddles and Ophelia's songs) It is used to compare the rigid order of the court The presence of madness as an unsettling recurring theme also adds to the overall sense in the play that the natural world is out of sync; that something ‘rotten in the state of Denmark’ will continue to affect everyone Search'Grand Theft Hamlet' Review: 'The Play's The Thing'Joe BreuerDec 12 2024); Image courtesy of Tull Stories)In spite of all the surreal emotions that arise from 2020 I find it hard to imagine how we will talk about the Great Covid Lockdown to our children or grandchildren when such an absurd disruption to regularity is so normalised in the collective psyche Roads and skies fell silent for the first time in centuries I remember many of my evenings fondly; holding shopkeepers at gunpoint beating strangers on the streets with my bare fists and smashing aeroplanes into mountains before telling my friends I missed them as I signed off for the night It was the modern equivalent of visiting the playground to play tag except with more firearms at my disposal than I had had when I was 9 Grand Theft Auto V’s position in the cultural zeitgeist 11 years post-release is simultaneously astonishing and unsurprising and documentary filmmaker Pinny Grills attempted to accomplish the hardest task in Grand Theft Auto history: creation A performance of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet entirely within GTA Online’s open world a process documented by Pinny using the engine’s in-game camera they take the “sandbox” definition of GTA to never-before-seen lengths The film is in a long line of Machinima (a portmanteau of machine and cinema where films and art are created with/within video games) this is the first time I can think of where a project of this nature has had cinema release and festival recognition on this level I was fortunate enough to catch the film at a BFI London Film Festival Press Screening with it being one of my most anticipated of the festival the festival screening at the BFI IMAX was entirely sold out having been shown there for general audiences many times since I was infatuated with the fact something so daringly daft could be shown on a screen of such scale It is difficult to review the film in a typical way as the Machinima documentary strips the film of many traditional filmmaking approaches given the adherence to the game’s computer graphics shots linger on the sun rising over Los Santos’ hills on NPCs spouting hostilities and satirical dialogue and on iconic LS/LA landmarks going about their day One foot in the real and one in the artificial Sam and Mark are professional actors (not to be confused with the CBBC presenting duo of the same name) After a night of irregular murders and robbery the two conveniently stumble across the Vinewood Bowl They faff about for a bit and reminiscently perform some Shakespeare the two decide to do auditions and settle on Hamlet as their play of choice It’s a little-known story by an up-and-coming writer about a boy who has to kill his uncle because his ghost-dad told him to 2024); Image courtesy of Tull StoriesIt’s a uniquely funny film partly because GTA is an inherently funny game The comedic style is familiar to anyone with access to YouTube in the 2010s and interest in gaming; a sort of modern Maybe it was the festival spirits in full swing but it was apparent in my screening that a great time was had by all throughout Sam and Mark’s ambitions or moments of seriousness are explosively undercut suddenly by random players bent on violence (I will admit was frequently afraid to see my own name appear on-screen) The two assemble a motley crew of gamers interested in their project: there’s a recently out trans person Jen Cohn the voice actor of Pharah from Overwatch and the eventual performance of Hamlet play out in the vein of a heist given that what they’re doing in a game designed for elaborate heists is avoiding performing one entirely the film does have moments that feel somewhat staged for dramatic effect the heavier emotional moments brought on by the lockdown feel pre-planned such as an argument between Sam and Mark or a marital squabble between Pinny and Sam To say they weren’t touching would be untrue and unfair They are necessary for structuring the film and grounding the digital space in reality it does disrupt the rapport the film has going at times and their artifice may also remind the audience that they are watching a performance about a performance in a film that blurs the lines between the digital and real I want to note that the very concept of Grand Theft Hamlet creates a dialogue between the theatre the film brings down the walls between these mediums and in doing so posit the evolution of art forms theatrical production evolved into cinema with the advent of the film camera cinematic technique and the interactivity of computers fused to become gaming Each one is unique in its own way yet built on the principles of the previous The film could also be read raising questions about virtual performance and identity trans cast member Nora uses gaming as a chance to represent her gender digitally as well as in real life Perhaps because it succeeded in affecting me with a sense of comradery for the crew behind it Grand Theft Hamlet is a testament to creativity A reminder that in a world bent on violence Grand Theft Hamlet is in UK + Irish cinemas now and will be available to stream on MUBI in early 2025 contact@strandmagazine.co.uk STRAND is an IPSO-compliant publication, published according to the Editor's Code of Practice. Complaints should be forwarded to contact@strandmagazine.co.uk Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. There was an error processing the request. Please try again later. Coleridge was talking in particular about the eccentric babblings of the prince after he meets the ghost of his father—“wild and whirling words,” in the view of Horatio as Coleridge points out with his typically practical shrewdness bordering on the flights of delirium.” No less than we should expect of someone who has just been incomprehensibly freaked out and more technical phraseology than you can shake a joystick at I recommend “Grand Theft Hamlet.” This is a newly released movie Think of it more as a crucible in which the solid forms of film and video games have been stirred until they melt like many of the weird cultural misshapings to which we have become habituated as they sometimes were by plague in Shakespeare’s day The two guys meet up in the only space where they can wander freely—that is with itchy thumbs and time weighing heavy on their hands they find themselves playing Grand Theft Auto Why not stage “Hamlet” inside the world of G.T.A. The movie is co-directed by Sam Crane and his wife and it depicts the efforts of Sam and Mark to cast are we granted a glimpse of life beyond the limits of the game although we hear a lot of chatter from incoming people When I saw “Grand Theft Hamlet,” in a movie theatre “a proud member of the deaf community,” and the experience of seeing the subtitles switch without warning from everyday speech to timeworn passages of Shakespeare creates a very appealing sense of verbal collage You need to hark back to Grigori Kozintsev’s great 1963 film of “Hamlet,” in which Shakespeare’s words were consigned to the subtitles while the characters orated in Russian (a translation of the play by Boris Pasternak) to feel so bracing a shock of disorientation seem to use as blithely as you or I would hail a cab The finest such moment comes when one participant whom Sam and Mark have tagged for the role of the prince Scene 2: “I have of late—but wherefore I know not—” Then “lost all my mirth,” he turns and lobs a grenade into the helicopter Everybody watching bursts into destruction-loving cackles Dipo plays under the nom de jeu of Dollah101 either from curiosity or because they feel sunk in a Hamlet-like stagnation roll up in response to an open casting call put out by Sam and Mark We have the pleasure of meeting ParTebMosMir takes Sam and Mark aback with a heartfelt declamation from the Quran Other hopefuls entertain us with excerpts from “Julius Caesar” and “Othello.” There is also the estimable DJPhil—bare chest explains that she is temporarily assuming her nephew’s avatar launches into the prince’s self-exculpation from Act V before the duel: “If Hamlet from himself be ta’en away / And when he’s not himself does wrong Laertes and she crowns the ambiguity by skipping ahead a few lines to the command that Hamlet issues to Osric: “Give us the foils Come on.” Thereupon she draws a stubby shotgun slays Laertes—currently incarnated by Sam—in cold virtual blood “Grand Theft Hamlet” is picking up where Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) left off The sight of DJPhil whipping out a shotgun reminded me instantly of the gonzo scene at a gas station in Luhrmann’s film when the anachronism of Benvolio’s line “Put up your swords” is swept aside by a closeup of the maker’s mark on a handgun—“Sword 9mm Series S.” But Crane and Grylls are onto something more than the buzz of a smart historical update where cruelty is funny and where malignity springs from the daftest and the most fleeting of motives and leaves no lasting trace Might that actually be near as we’re likely to get to the mood of the mob We may be baffled by a public that rejoiced in the baiting of bears But what would Shakespeare’s contemporaries make of us as we sit in front of a little window and watch puppetlike people blast one another in the head Whether Sam and Mark picked the right play it’s the obvious choice; if you’ve ever heard of Shakespeare you’ve heard of “Hamlet.” And there’s certainly a reviving kick in seeing “To be or not to be” tried out against different backdrops: first on a high rock beside a heaving sea (not unlike the lofty cliff from which Olivier delivered the soliloquy in his Oscar-winning film of 1948) beside a firepit on the rooftop of a casino Thus is the anguished prince rebooted as a spoiled dude hopping lightly through the flames for something to do If I had to pick the most accurate guide to G.T.A. I would plump for the retrospective words of Horatio surrounded by corpses as the play winds down tells Fortinbras and the English ambassadors exactly what they’ve missed The speech is not included in “Grand Theft Hamlet,” and that’s a pity because it sounds just like a trailer for the game: and unnatural acts,Of accidental judgments casual slaughters,Of deaths put on by cunning and forc’d cause which was initially performed (without much success) at the Red Bull shoot,Of all deaths the violent death is best;For from ourselves it steals ourselves so fastThe pain Then comes a brutal stage direction: “They shoot his description of his torment is startling: “There’s a plumber laying pipes in my guts and a minute later he rises gleefully to his feet “The pistols held no bullets.” All of which gives off a horribly modern stink where the agony of dying is no more than a passing inconvenience I went to “Grand Theft Hamlet” in a packed cinema and the peals of delight that rang out around me as blood was shed and sprayed without a hint of fuss I must confess to a squirm of silent unease the main difference being that nobody onscreen believed that they were in danger of damnation his unforgettable comment is “I have caught / An everlasting cold.” What you get from “Grand Theft Hamlet,” I’d say is the thin smack of a satisfying deal: all revenge up comes a merry message: “Wasted.” (At one unfortunate juncture the wastage is made specific: “Rosenkrantz_killed Ghost_1st_Player.” That would cause all manner of havoc in the plot.) True there are interludes of genuine desolation here though they arise not so much from the plight of the dramatis personae as from the extraordinary details of the game-makers’ art an all but vacant beach beside a funfair with no fun and the patter of unrelenting rain: such are the sullen signs of a dystopia—what Hamlet calls “a sterile promontory”—that is all too faithfully rendered in the digital landscape the very medium of “Grand Theft Hamlet” strikes me as tough put this project together and answered the call to play A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered A limousine driver watches her passengers transform The day Muhammad Ali punched me What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.”  Retirement the Margaritaville way Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.”  Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. Casting has been announced for Hamlet at the National Theatre, which forms part of Indhu Rubasingham's inaugural season. The production will run from 25 September to 22 November. Olivier Award winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) will take on the eponymous role in a production directed by Robert Hastie, the National Theatre's Deputy Artistic Director. Joining Abeysekera in the cast are Phil Cheadle as Marcellus, Ayesha Dharker as Gertrude, Tom Glenister as Laertes, Hari Mackinnon as Rosencrantz, Francesca Mills as Ophelia, Alistair Petrie as Claudius, Siobhán Redmond as First Player, and Geoffrey Streatfeild as Polonius. The creative team has set and costume design by Ben Stones, lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun, and sound by Alexandra Faye Braithwaite. The production will be filmed for future National Theatre Live release to cinemas around the world. Check back for Hamlet tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk Photo credit: Hiran Abeysekera. (Photo by Chris Burgess) You can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy Advocacy Awards Back to School Booklists Books & Media Budgets & Funding Computer Science Design/Architecture Authors Illustrators Best Of Booklists Books Collections Media Reference Series Made Simple Advocacy Best Of Budgets & Funding Computer Science Classroom Curricula Design/Architecture Cover Story Career Advocacy Awards Back to School Booklists Books & Media Budgets & Funding Career Classroom & Curricula Advocacy Awards Books & Media Budgets & Funding Buildings Censorship Collections Cover Story Elementary Teens Tweens Books & Media Programs & Programming Diverse Books Tech 100 Scope Notes A Fuse #8 Production Good Comics for Kids Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog Neverending Search Politics in Practice Teen Librarian Toolbox The Classroom Bookshelf The Yarn COVID-19 Opinion Classroom Graphic Novels Ideas People Research Events & PD Job Zone Online Courses Master Classes SLJ Projects Privacy Policy Subscriber Services The debut author explores her experience growing up with ADHD and how it informed her novel Hannah Edwards: Secrets of Riverway “The point is ADD makes children restless and easily distracted.” This line is not from a psychological resource or a parenting advice website It was said by Principal Skinner in a Simpsons episode where Bart is diagnosed with ADD—now commonly referred to as ADHD or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder Bart fits the popular depiction of ADHD: he fails his courses and is generally a menace to the school population at the psychiatry clinic where I received my diagnosis like comments from teachers about how I was easily distracted and talked too much This infuriated me and compelled me to rewrite the conventional narrative of ADHD portrayed through characters like Bart Simpson have always been—and will always be—a pleasure to have in class I haughtily approached my mother and demanded that she talk to my teacher I told my mother that I was not going to school anymore My new gifted title came with some perks: an Individual Personalized Plan (IPP) that allowed me to study more advanced material I believe this IPP—combined with a fundamental misunderstanding of how ADHD presents particularly in women—is why I was not formally diagnosed with ADHD until I was 22 I had the desire to speak all of the time—I just compensated for it by always being the first student to raise their hand I wasn’t visibly distracted—but I was writing short stories instead of taking notes in class my issues with paying attention never affected my grades—the perfectionism that often accompanies ADHD always kicked in and saved the day Just because a struggle is not visible does not mean that it doesn’t exist as I progressed into the less structured university environment the consequences of this internal struggle became even more significant The most obvious presentation of this struggle was procrastination—a trait that affects many people with ADHD The work that I was given seemed so simple that I couldn’t motivate myself to do it I knew that I was creating problems for myself My diagnosis gave me a name for my schoolwork paralysis: executive dysfunction my diagnosis shone a light on my overly harsh view of my own work—a low sense of self-worth that was often impacted by rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) Rejection sensitivity dysphoria occurs when an individual has an extreme experience of emotional pain when encountering perceived rejection the prediction of experiencing academic rejection prevented me from even starting my work When I realized how overblown my reactions to simple things could be / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew."  I reread Hamlet shortly after my diagnosis for the practical reason of using it as a possible source for my master’s thesis I found something far more fruitful: a companion for understanding my ADHD Hamlet’s extreme reaction to grief; his desire to put off important tasks (revenge) until things were “perfect”; his impossible standards (set by his foil Fortinbras); and his rejection and frustration with his own psychological limitations all struck a chord with my understanding of neurodivergence Hamlet was a companion I could (mostly) relate to But Hamlet had his drawbacks: his frequent misogynistic comments isolated me from fully aligning myself with him the title character in my new middle grade book Hannah Edwards Secrets of Riverway (Fabled Films Press Hannah also has an extreme reaction to grief denying her father’s death until it becomes impossible to refute she experiences a desire for certainty: she wants to be sure that the ghost is her father that the water pump he warns her about is real that his brother Fergus is behind everything evil especially when it comes to academic success Fair enough—she has big things on her mind Hannah is lucky to receive an early diagnosis for whatever neurodivergence she experiences Her journal entries about being bored in class were taken from old portions of my personal notes Hannah’s experience of executive dysfunction when writing her book report is the most emotionally charged portion of this novel for me because it was actually written when I was frustrated about not being able to write the Hannah Edwards manuscript. Now that's Shakespearean I am not trying to criticize anybody who has had the Bart Simpson ADHD experience—anybody who did struggle in school or received teacher reprisal for their behavior My hope is that Hannah will provide a more nuanced depiction of neurodiversity One that perfectionist students can relate to One that shows that struggling internally is okay one that shows that you can have ADHD and—like me Ashley Hards—can still be a pleasure to have in class Ashley Hards was declared to be “gifted” at age 8 and was diagnosed with ADHD at age 22 she found books and writing to be the most engaging subjects She received both her BA and MA in English Literature from McGill University where she now teaches writing and continues her research on Shakespeare and ritual You did not sign in correctly or your account is temporarily disabled Passwords must include at least 8 characters Your password must include at least three of these elements: lower case letters The email you entered already exists. Please reset your password to gain access to your account Exclusive video library and multimedia content searchable archives of more than 300,000 reviews and thousands of articles This comment was removed because it violates Library Journal's comment policy We are currently offering this content for free Sign up now to activate your personal profile where you can save articles for future viewing We’ve noticed you are using a private browser LOG IN CREATE AN ACCOUNT SUBSCRIBE Most SLJ reviews are exclusive to subscribers you'll receive unlimited access to all reviews dating back to 2010 To access other site content, visit our homepage Spoiler alert: This story includes details of "The White Lotus" season finale Last night, the season finale episode of "The White Lotus" had everyone on edge After eight episodes of the action-packed HBO drama viewers finally learned the fates of Thailand's White Lotus resort guests motifs and even cinematography seem a little familiar The fingerprints of English playwright William Shakespeare are all over "White Lotus" Season 3's dramatic end. While the Ratliff family has a run-in with poison that could be seen as a callback to "Romeo and Juliet," there are other parallels involving couple Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) as well as a nod to "King Lear" in the show's closing moments We'll break down how the show may have drawn inspiration from the 16th-century writer's works 'White Lotus' finale recap: Rick's tragic blunder, one blender and a $5M payout The most obvious Shakespearean reference in "White Lotus" is seen in Rick Hatchett's story The revenge-set Hatchett couldn't move past the bitterness he felt towards the man his mother told him murdered his father so he travels to the White Lotus in Thailand to track down Jim Hollinger viewers think Rick has come to peace with the past But Rick returns to the resort to his girlfriend with whom he says he wants to spend the rest of his life After Jim and Sritala return to the resort another confrontation sets Rick off − again Though Chelsea urges Rick not to do anything stupid and to appreciate the love he has instead of the love he has lost Rick can't handle his brewing anger and resentment and after Jim and Sritala's bodyguards fire back Rick scoops Chelsea up in his arms before being shot himself and falling into the water with his lover Rick's final words to Chelsea are: "We're gonna be together forever The fate of Rick and Chelsea echoes one of Shakespeare's most championed plays After discovering his uncle Claudius killed his father and is set to become the new king Hamlet spends the duration of the play tortured by grief and the need to avenge his father's "foul and most unnatural murder" by murdering Claudius Ophelia keeps compassion for Hamlet as he loses control: "O Hamlet's actions cause Ophelia to spiral into madness and die by drowning While Hamlet carries out his revenge plot to fruition with both of them throwing away the love they had to avenge their father Sritala reveals to Rick that Jim was his real father all along The final shot of Rick and Chelsea shows the two dead in the water among lily pads with Rick facing upwards and Chelsea downwards "But long it could not be / Till that her garments / Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay  / To muddy death," a character in the play says of Ophelia's mermaid-like death The drowning has become one of the most referenced and well-known deaths in literature, inspiring countless works of art. The 1851-52 painting by John Everett Millais is one of the most popular renderings of Ophelia's death the two undeniably echo Millais' "Ophelia," though it is Rick whose face is visible emphasizing that his actions led to the pair's downfall Maui spa manager Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) fares much better than Rick and Chelsea She receives a handsome payoff by extorting the late Tanya McQuoid's ex-husband Belinda is seen leaving the White Lotus resort on a boat with her son and $5 million richer Belinda finally has the funds to fulfill her dream and open her spa a dream that Tanya offered to bankroll in Season 1 of the show before backing out and dashing Belinda's hopes A professional and romantic relationship with Thailand White Lotus employee Pornchai has Belinda considering him a business partner But as soon as the extorted funds hit her bank account "Can't I just be rich for five minutes?" she tells Zion after he asks about her relationship with Pornchai dashing his dreams and making her the new Tanya figure Billy Preston's song "Nothing From Nothing" plays in the background "Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin' / You gotta have somethin' if you wanna be with me." The song's title nods to another famous Shakespearean line from King Lear "Nothing will come of nothing," the King tells his daughter It's a tale as old as time (or as old as the 1600s): if you have nothing to offer another person Audrey Gibbs is a music journalist with The Tennessean You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com Broadway Off-Broadway Off-Off Broadway Cabaret Dance Opera Classical Music Nashville Minneapolis / St. Paul Connecticut Atlanta Chicago Los Angeles WEST END UK Regional Canada Australia / New Zealand Europe Asia Latin America Africa / Middle East TV/Movies Music Robert has assembled an exceptional ensemble It's been fifty years since we have presented this classic play at CTG and this sultry production will infuse the Taper with sharp-laced wit offering a Hamlet like nothing you've ever experienced The legendary story begins: “So … once more… tell me about this Ghost.”  But Ghosts are tricky things A rich entitled Prince goes on a ferocious rampage that will lead to a massacre in the living room Is he a tragic hero as we've often been told It's been a half a century since Hamlet was done at the Taper the Tony-nominated visionary who directed the landmark box office hit Slave Play—the most Tony-nominated play in Broadway history—returns to Center Theatre Group to one of the most famous tales ever told  He previously directed Slave Play in its world premiere at New York Theater Workshop In this new adaptation we will step into a Shakespearean noir through a forensic investigation of the ultimate crimes of passion.  O'Hara said, “I'm terribly excited to be closing out Snehal Desai's first season with Hamlet. I'm diving deep into my love of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch Salvador Dali and Perry Mason to tell this story 2024/25 Season programming at the Mark Taper Forum is made possible through the generous support of the S. Mark Taper Foundation. Additional season support is provided by Perenchio Foundation. Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum will present two beloved comedies by William Shakespeare to open the company’s “2025 Season of Resilience.” Learn how to attend! The sharp, darkly funny solo show, The Other Woman, will make its world premiere this June at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets. Countless fans know and love Leonard Bernstein’s landmark work and the iconic original choreography created by the legendary Jerome Robbins. Watch the first look video now! RUBICON THEATRE is continuing its season with the U.S. Premiere of  the acclaimed West End version of the Tony Nominated musical BONNIE & CLYDE. 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Privacy Policy A fresh new production of Hamlet will be presented at the Masque theatre from Friday May 9 to Saturday May 17 This gender-swapped adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy a young director at a modern film production studio soon before the premiere of her latest film The production stays true to Shakespeare's text as our heroine grapples with her own identity and morality and adds the layer of how Hamlet can bring the perpetrator of gender-based violence to justice while staying on a feminist path ‘As a testament to Shakespeare's remarkable insight into the human condition we are thrilled to present this production in a modern setting while staying true to the original language,” says Behari-Leak “This fresh approach is sure to help high school learners as they engage with their setwork while also appealing to Shakespeare aficionados. We’ve also trimmed the play to make it a more manageable length for a modern audience without losing the key elements of what make Hamlet the classic it is.” at 2.30pm. Tickets cost from R130 through Quicket Special block booking rates are available for high schools Wheelchair access and facilities are available at the theatre in Muizenberg Purchase a new subscription and qualify for $100 of fine dining and most well-known play in popular culture are legion from Star Wars to Clueless to The Lion King My personal favorite may be in Freaky Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan when a high school English teacher asks a jock slouching at his desk who clearly hasn’t completed his assigned reading He’s just bopping around … doesn’t know which way’s up.” Then “I don’t think the guy’s got a clue.” Maybe not quite how the Bard would have put it to describe his titular character Shakespeare is largely relegated today to the classroom and abandoned thereafter with many perhaps feeling that the language is inaccessible and the meaning obscure Once the reader adjusts to the beautiful rhythm and cadence Shakespeare is surprisingly comprehensible … even rather So many of our well-known sayings originate from this play that Hamlet must have been on the brain for the joke “I went to see a Shakespeare show but left at intermission — it was too full of cliches.” In addition to the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy the world’s most renown playwright also saw fit to pack his magnum opus with such phrases as “To the manner born,” “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” “To thine own self be true,” “Though this be madness yet there is method in’t,” “The lady doth protest too much,” and “Conscience doth make cowards of us all,” … just to name a few Hamlet is the perfect character to show off Shakespeare’s own wit and clever ability at puns Trapped in his inability to take action and avenge his father’s murder Hamlet's paralysis evinces itself through a near constant deluge of words revealing his inner wrestling There may indeed be “more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” but Hamlet does his best to philosophize them all anyway It has been pointed out that Othello and Hamlet are simply heroes in the wrong stories — had Othello taken a fraction of Hamlet’s care to deliberate and investigate the veracity of the accuser’s claim And had Hamlet an iota of Othello’s vengeful sense of justice at punishing treachery he would have lost no time in dispatching his murderous uncle (But neither of these scenarios would have given the audience five acts!) What struck me most in this my third reading was the true ambiguity of Hamlet’s madness He spells out at the very beginning that he is going to feign madness the better to have an opportunity to avenge his father’s murder at his uncle’s hand but many instances that follow conversely give argument to the case for his actual madness It is this perfect balance of so many opposing tensions and ambiguities that makes the play so compelling The ease with which Hamlet dispatches with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern the unwitting accomplices in his uncle’s schemes to have Hamlet neutralized lies in stark contrast with his inability to strike at Claudius until all hope for his life — and perhaps Hamlet is finally jarred out of his inaction when he sees himself as the “scourge and minister” of heaven compelled to “set [time] right.” Hamlet’s hesitation ultimately suggests that Old Hamlet’s murder alone is not worth the personal consequence of his taking revenge what perhaps makes Shakespeare so surprisingly accessible and infinitely rewarding is the incredible depth at which his stories are woven into the base layer of our culture’s storytelling fabric You will be pleasantly surprised and glad you did «  back to issue