Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
Claudius has murdered his brother, the King of Denmark, usurped the throne
and married the King's wife, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.
Hamlet is told of the murder by his father's ghost, who commands him
to avenge the crime. Hamlet hesitates, feeling he needs further proof
before he takes action, and pretends to be mad.
Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, forces his daughter, Ophelia, to
question Hamlet and return some love tokens to him, thinking that Hamlet
is mad for love of Ophelia, but Hamlet rejects her.
To test the ghost's story, Hamlet arranges a play simulating the murder,
and Claudius betrays his guilt when he sees it. Hamlet reviles his mother
for her hasty and incestuous marriage, and accidentally kills Polonius.
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Claudius sends Hamlet to England with orders for his execution, but Hamlet
returns to confront Claudius and Laertes, Polonius' son, at the funeral of
Ophelia, who has gone mad and drowned herself.
Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be killed in a fencing match with Laertes,
but the plot miscarries, and Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes and Hamlet all die.
"Hamlet" is the longest of Shakespeare's plays, running to four hours in performance.
It was necessary for us to cut it down to about two and a half hours, so a lot had to
disappear. Like many previous directors, I chose to concentrate on the family tragedy, and cut out the surrounding
political dimensions concerning Fortinbras and Norway.
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"Hamlet" Set Model
The production was set firmly in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, the period when the play
was written, and colours were used to reflect mood and character.
Claudius's court at the opening was
dominated by red and gold, so that Hamlet's
black clothes looked very out of place. The players brought a riot of different colours
onto the stage, but as events became progressively more unpleasant, all the colour
drained out of the costumes, so that the end was predominantly black and white.
The set was a series of panels, covered with carved shields and heraldic devices painted
to look like stone. Black curtains were used to cut off the forestage when a more intimate
area was needed, such as Gertrude's bedchamber.
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Lighting was used to create mood and atmosphere, with the spaces beyond the walls
of the set being totally black, so that there was always a sense of menace lurking
in the darkness surrounding the action of the play.
Events moved quickly from one scene to the next, with the minimum of props and
furniture to slow things down, and Claudius and the Ghost were both played by the same
actor to emphasise the fact that they were brothers, and perhaps not as dissimilar
as Hamlet would like to believe. This meant that the Ghost's costume had to fit over
Claudius's outfit to accommodate quick changes from one character to the other in the
early sections of the play.
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