Program Note
To the Player King, Hamlet cautions: “...o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature…” Shakespeare crafted Hamlet this way, careful not to present humanity any way other than how it is. Hamlet, therefore, shows us how messy, passionate, brutal, obsessive people can be. Hamlet presents us with the idea that all people are capable of horrendous things if persuaded by the right reasons; anyone can be motivated to do anything. Hamlet is Shakespeare’s timeless revenge tale at Elsinore Castle; in which the witty and passionate Prince Hamlet learns from the ghost of his late father that his uncle Claudius murdered King Hamlet in order to usurp his brother’s throne and wife. We then follow Prince Hamlet as he vows vengeance on the new King Claudius and is ultimately consumed by it.
Denmark is rotting and has been since before the first line of the play is spoken. The untimely death of King Hamlet has left a once beautiful Denmark now “an unweeded garden”, overgrown and rotting. Subsequently, decay and death are in the air and preoccupy the characters. Part of being human is considering and fearing death. In Hamlet, this fear manifests in an obsession about the afterlife. No one contemplates the afterlife as much as Hamlet, who meets a father stuck in purgatory, is cautioned to let his mother go to Heaven, puts off killing Claudius to ensure Claudius’ eternal suffering and considers his own existence constantly. Religious indication aside, the afterlife becomes a wider symbol for mortality; morality and how our actions affect those around us.
The world of Hamlet is populated with characters who at first are grounded in reality; everything they do makes sense. It is easy, therefore, to see pieces of ourselves in Elsinore; we relate to Hamlet because in many ways he is an average person. He has no super-powers, and although he is a prince, his status doesn’t elevate him to give him any spectacular advantage. If Hamlet has any extra ability, it is that he’s clever and witty. For this reason, it becomes easy for us to project ourselves into Hamlet; to imagine how we might react in his situation. Just as Hamlet has no unimaginable skills, neither do his antagonists. King Claudius, for example, is able to get ahead because of his cunning and charm-- not because he is inconceivably gifted in any way. Hamlet is a play full of recognizable people trying to work their way through familiar struggles which hurtle out of control due to a few extraordinary circumstances.
Hamlet, in its full 32,241 words (depending on which quarto you’re looking at), has two juxtaposing stories: one political and one personal. Neither can be completely separated from the other, but this production focuses on the latter. We didn’t want to make a political statement-- we wanted to focus on the emotional intricacies of the characters and their relationships. Hamlet has all kinds of relationships: parent-child, stepparent-child, boyfriend-girlfriend, best friends and many others. With the major political elements removed, audiences are able to focus entirely on the emotional journey of Hamlet, which becomes a story about two families-- one nuclear and loving; the other divided and distant-- and how they interact and destroy the other. Denmark is not the only thing that's rotting: its people are also slowly, painfully decaying.
Denmark is rotting and has been since before the first line of the play is spoken. The untimely death of King Hamlet has left a once beautiful Denmark now “an unweeded garden”, overgrown and rotting. Subsequently, decay and death are in the air and preoccupy the characters. Part of being human is considering and fearing death. In Hamlet, this fear manifests in an obsession about the afterlife. No one contemplates the afterlife as much as Hamlet, who meets a father stuck in purgatory, is cautioned to let his mother go to Heaven, puts off killing Claudius to ensure Claudius’ eternal suffering and considers his own existence constantly. Religious indication aside, the afterlife becomes a wider symbol for mortality; morality and how our actions affect those around us.
The world of Hamlet is populated with characters who at first are grounded in reality; everything they do makes sense. It is easy, therefore, to see pieces of ourselves in Elsinore; we relate to Hamlet because in many ways he is an average person. He has no super-powers, and although he is a prince, his status doesn’t elevate him to give him any spectacular advantage. If Hamlet has any extra ability, it is that he’s clever and witty. For this reason, it becomes easy for us to project ourselves into Hamlet; to imagine how we might react in his situation. Just as Hamlet has no unimaginable skills, neither do his antagonists. King Claudius, for example, is able to get ahead because of his cunning and charm-- not because he is inconceivably gifted in any way. Hamlet is a play full of recognizable people trying to work their way through familiar struggles which hurtle out of control due to a few extraordinary circumstances.
Hamlet, in its full 32,241 words (depending on which quarto you’re looking at), has two juxtaposing stories: one political and one personal. Neither can be completely separated from the other, but this production focuses on the latter. We didn’t want to make a political statement-- we wanted to focus on the emotional intricacies of the characters and their relationships. Hamlet has all kinds of relationships: parent-child, stepparent-child, boyfriend-girlfriend, best friends and many others. With the major political elements removed, audiences are able to focus entirely on the emotional journey of Hamlet, which becomes a story about two families-- one nuclear and loving; the other divided and distant-- and how they interact and destroy the other. Denmark is not the only thing that's rotting: its people are also slowly, painfully decaying.