The continual re-invention of Hamlet

The young actor’s Everest

Shakespeare’s Hamlet has featured on recent exam syllabuses for a number of years. At over five hours’ playing time (uncut) it calls for massive physical stamina from its lead. But more than that, it demands huge emotional depth and range to inhabit the complex and memorable language with which Shakespeare creates the part.

For most young male actors, the role stands as a benchmark against which they must compare themselves, an Everest there to be climbed, their chance not only to make a mark in the theatre world but to be ranked against their peers.

A variety of readings

Given the play’s credentials, as well as its cultural dominance, it is no surprise that every year sees the staging of a number of productions. This is a gift to any teacher wanting their students to understand the dynamics of the drama which operate beyond the page.

How does Hamlet regard Ophelia for example?

• With disgust at her complicity?
• With pain and loss?
• With confusion and despair?
• In anger that any woman may be fickle like his mother?

Any and all of these interpretations are valid readings of the text, so it relies on the tone and gesture of the actor to clearly demonstrate his decision about Hamlet’s motivation.

If you are studying Hamlet this year, see if you can get to one of the productions outlined below. If you can get to more than one, it will be illuminating to see the changes each performer (and director) make to the drama and discuss your responses to the variations.

There is no one way to read Hamlet, but a multiplicity of ways to appreciate it. Enjoy!

Hamlet productions in 2011

Royal National Theatre. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Rory Kinnear (Hamlet), Clare Higgins (Gertrude), David Calder (Polonius). Lyttelton Theatre, London, 13 – 23 April (020 7452 3000). www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Northern Broadsides. Directed by Conrad Nelson. Nicholas Shaw (Hamlet), Finetime Fontayne (Claudius), Becky Hindley (Gertrude), Richard Evans (Polonius), Tom Kanji (Laertes) and Natalie Dew (Ophelia). Viaduct Theatre, Halifax, 29 March – 2 April; Canolfan y Celfyddyday Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, 6 – 9 April; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, 19 – 30 April; Theatre at the Mill, Belfast, 4 – 7 May; Gaiety Theatre, Isle of Man, 19 - 21 May; The Rose Theatre, Kingston, 24 – 28 May. www.northern-broadsides.co.uk

Brentwood Shakespeare Company. Directed by Glenda Abbott. Brentwood Theatre, 13-16 April (01277 200305). www.brentwood-theatre.org.

Shakespeare’s Globe Company. Directed by Dominic Dromgoole. Joshua McGuire (Hamlet). Strode Theatre, Street, 19 – 21 April (01458 442 846); Shakespeare’s Globe, London, 23 April - 9 July (020 7401 9919); Pavilion Gardens Buxton (adjacent to the Buxton Opera House), 4 – 5 August (0845 12 72190). [Small-scale tour - Part of the Word is God Theatre Season 2011]. www.shakespeares-globe.org

Stamford Shakespeare. Rutland Open Air Theatre in the grounds of Tolethorpe Hall, Little Casterton, 5 July – 27 August (01780 756133). www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk.

Young Vic Company. Directed by Ian Rickson. Michael Sheen (Hamlet). Young Vic Theatre, London, 28 October - 21 January 2012 (020 7922 2922). www.youngvic.org

Dark Comedy

Dark Comedy

Painful laughter

If you are a fan of shows like Little Britain you’ll be familiar with the fact that, amongst sublimely funny situations of punctured pride and physical slapstick, lurk darker elements that make us laugh. The Fat Club sketches are essentially about bullying and racism, the W.I. ladies are grotesque snobs, the breast-feeding adult is disturbing.

Twelfth Night

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is defined as a comedy and regularly performed today. It includes the comic pathos in Sir Andrew Aguecheek’s aspirations to valour, the broad comedy of mistaken identities, the witty repartee of Maria etc. But in the taunting of Malvolio, and the perpetrators’ obvious enjoyment of his torture, we encounter that darker seam of what makes people laugh.

How Shakespeare’s audience understood the play

Through the antagonism between Sir Toby Belch and Malvolio on stage, Shakespeare was reflecting a cultural sea change. Elements of society, influenced by extreme reformed Protestantism in Europe and Scotland, were challenging the laissé-faire attitudes of the nobility and established church in England.

Malvolio represents the aspiring middle classes who wanted their own share of social influence and prestige – a share that others were reluctant to allow. It was a conflict that would ultimately erupt in the mid seventeenth century with the English Civil War.

Helpful links

You don’t need to know all this to enjoy the comic plot, but if you end up studying Twelfth Night for A Level, marks are awarded for your understanding of how the play was originally received and understood. The newly launched Context links: Twelfth Night will fill you in with all you need to know if you visit Crossref-it.info.

If you can get to see the forthcoming production of the play, part of the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, at Robinson College Gardens, 2-28 August (www.cambridgeshakespeare.com), even better!

The pointlessness of tragedy

The pointlessness of tragedy

Productions of Othello

Whenever I see Shakespeare’s Othello I am always struck by how such trivial incidents – like the dropping of a hanky, the repetition of apparently innocent phrases – can result in such a momentous downfall of the protagonist and those around him. Played well, it can be almost unbearable to watch.

Yet there is an appeal to this agony, which is why the play endures and takes new generations of theatre go-ers down its tortuous paths. It is never performed as regularly as Hamlet or King Lear for example, so, if you are studying Othello in the coming year do watch out for these productions:

• Currently running until 21 August is a (semi) open air performance by Stamford Shakespeare at the Rutland Open Air Theatre, Tolethorpe Hall, Stamford, 15 June – 21 August (01780 756 133 / 763 203). www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk
• An interesting adaptation of the Othello story is being done by the Veni Vidi Theatre Company at Lauderdale House, London, between the 10 – 13 August (020 8348 8716).

Getting a fix on the play

Unlike some of Shakespeare’s other plays, which can exist within a world of their own, Othello is set in a specific political situation. Racial and class resentment festers amidst the fears and upheaval generated by armed conflict.

To help you understand this world, Crossref-it.info has this week launched a handy guide tailored to the play, which takes you to all the most helpful sections of the website. Look out for Context links: Othello. If you find yourself studying the play in the coming academic year, this one stop resource will really help you to understand the reactions Shakespeare’s original audience might have had to the tragedy.

The Tempest

See The Tempest live this summer

If any of you are expecting to study or teach Shakespeare’s last great Romance for A

Level, then there is nothing to beat seeing a live production for a fresh perspective on

the play. The magical nature of the play inspires directors in all sorts of ways:

> The Lord Chamberlain's Men are doing a national tour into all sorts of unsual theatrical spaces until the 22nd August. Visit www.tlcm.co.uk for details

> Also performing around Britain until 5th September is a production mounted by The Festival Players. www.thefestivalplayers.co.uk

> For highbrow quality, the The Old Vic production, directed by Sam Mendes should be unmissable at the Old Vic Theatre, London, until 31st August www.oldvictheatre.com

> Regional companies are exploring the drama, with the Guildford Shakespeare Company performing at the University of Surrey Lake, 22 July - 7 August www.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk and the Oxford Shakespeare Company staging it at Hampton Court Palace, from 21 – 30 August www.osctheatre.org.uk

Making sense of the play

A Level students tend to enjoy a quirky take on serious dramas, so the ‘B Movie’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s plot makes a great comparison piece. Catch Return to the Forbidden Planet at Morley Town Hall, 22 – 25 September (07960 766 334).

Of course any advanced study of The Tempest is going to require some in depth exploration of the Shakespeare and the Romance genre. Launched this week, at Crossref-it.info, a handy guide tailored to the play takes you to all the most helpful sections of the website. Look out for Context links: The Tempest. Either before going to see a production, or when you come to investigate it later, this one stop resource will really help you to understand the pastoral world Shakespeare conjures on-stage.

Shakespeare’s Scottish play

See Macbeth live this summer

If any of you are expecting to study or teach Macbeth for A Level, then there is nothing to beat seeing a live production for a fresh perspective on the play. And there are some interesting ones to catch:

• Until this weekend there is as authentic a version as you are likely to get at Shakespeare’s Globe www.shakespeares-globe.org
• The Pantaloons Theatre Company’s national tour is taking the play beyond the confines of the regular theatre circuit around East Anglia and central England in July, before heading north in August www.thepantaloons.co.uk
• An open air production is being staged by the Regent’s Park Company at their Open Air Theatre, London, from 3 – 24 July http://openairtheatre.org
• In Guildford Castle, an unusual promenade performance of the tragedy runs from the 9th – 17th July by The Pranksters Theatre Company www.pranksterstheatre.org.uk
• For a more erudite take on the drama, The Shakespeare Institute Players are performing in Stratford from 8 – 10 July. www.shakespeareinstituteplayers.co.uk

Digging around the original

Of particular interest to A Level English and/or Theatre Studies groups are upcoming adaptations which explore the characters from a slightly different angle:

• Mastering Macbeth explores key scenes in terms of character, language, theme and theatrical technique at the Salisbury Playhouse, 9th-11th November www.salisburyplayhouse.com
• A Season before the Tragedy of Macbeth is at the Camden People's Theatre, 4-8 August and offers a groundbreaking new perspective on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the tragedy that befalls them. www.facsimileproductions.co.uk

Essential backup

Of course any advanced study of Macbeth is going to require some in depth exploration of the world Shakespeare was writing for. Launched this week, at Crossref-it.info, a handy guide tailored to the play takes you to all the most helpful sections of the website. Look out for Macbeth: Context links. Either before going to see a production, or when you come to investigate it later, this one stop resource will really help you to understand the zeitgeist the bard was tapping into.