More matter with less art.

A blog about Hamlet. Mostly an editor's choice of the #hamlet tag. Submissions welcome. And feel free to leave any questions you have ever had about Hamlet in the ask box. I won't have an answer to all of them but there's a good chance someone who does will see it here. LIEGEMAN TO THE DANE { Shakespearian for Life } . . .

[dismembered-narrator]

TRANS HAMLET TRANS HAMLET

[aibafiles]

consider: modern AU hamlet doing soliloquies in the shower

[aibafiles]

#does this mean in the first one horatio bursts into his shower like hey hamlet i saw the ghost of your dad (via hyenateeth)

yes. yes that is exactly what that means

[arrantknave]

[beradan]

“Did you - stop screaming, it’s just me - did you see your dad’s ghost recently?”

[seljepw]

Why is this so perfect?

[mihai-florescu]

People arguing whether Hamlet was written as a teenager or as a 30 year old: 😡🤜🤜

Sir Ian McKellen, unbothered king:

[alioshakaramazov]

may i offer you some Hamlet booty shorts in these trying times

[raspberrybush]

this theatre magazine from 1993 really gets it

[dolcesostenuto]

Jean Simmons as Ophelia - “Hamlet” (1948)

[hamdeny]

so I played Hamlet at 16 and man... him being a teenager really does hit different. Because it takes this whiny 30 year old man child and makes him infinitely more tragic because suddenly he is a LITERAL CHILD. Like my Hamlet was this scared kid, unable to comprehend exactly what death meant, struggling with all these FIRSTS: first loss of a family member, first love, first realization that his adult role models are actually really fucked up. 16 year old Hamlet just wants a hug from his mom but every time he looks at her he remembers that she is completely different from the person he thought she was. 16 year old Hamlet emotionally can’t handle a relationship with Ophelia but isn’t mature enough to understand that and ends up hurting her and himself in the process (not to mention struggling with his sexuality). 16 year old Hamlet has his whole life ahead of him, and it’s cut short by a terrifying father with impossible expectations. 16 year old Hamlet is struggling with mental illness and has no words to describe what he is feeling except that it is BAD and he wants to die. He’s a kid who’s been failed by all the adults in his life. His anger at his mom isn’t because of some weird Oedipal complex, it’s because he needs her and she isn’t there.

I played Hamlet during the worst year of my life, when my mental health was in shambles. He was pretty much the one thing I hung on to, an ironic link to sanity during my own madness. That’s why I say it’s bullshit to say only older actors can understand Hamlet and play him properly (a real thing my English teacher said to me, hahaha). Teenagers go through a hell of a lot more than you think. Teenagers can ABSOLUTELY play Hamlet, and I would argue that they can do it better than most adults.

Pictured: Me age 16 as Hamlet, hitting a whip whilst describing his depression to R&G

TLDR: Teenage Hamlet recontextualizes The Whole Play to be more tragic, and teenagers are Not Stupid.

[littletasks]

Hey friends – The Globe Theatre in London just posted the entirety of their 2018 production of Hamlet on their youtube channel for free (!!!!) this is kinda a big deal, so if you’ve ever wanted to see what an authentic Shakespeare production looks like, or you have some downtime during self-quarantine, now’s your chance! Just thought I’d share I’m really excited about this!

[shakespearenews]

“I played Hamlet a couple of years ago and Hamlet to me is the greatest play ever written and the greatest - weirdly to my mind - it’s the greatest love story…”

[gazebosarebologna]

Imagine a production of Hamlet where everything’s exactly the same, but during the play within a play scene he makes them watch Lion King.

[firstactproblems]

[binary-bird]

Hamlet as a D&D paladin.

Keep reading

[lifewithoutcosette-deactivated2]

[hamdeny]

HAMLET 2019 - YouTube

HAMLET 2019 - YouTube

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!

After months, I finally have for you the full recording of my Hamlet!! I had to split it into each act in order to upload it with bad internet connection, but hopefully that means each part is easier to watch on its own (you know, because the full show was at least 2.5 hours long).

Some notes:

-we are all high school students!! so please no inappropriate comments!!! at the time of this recording, most of the cast is between 14-17 years old

-this was filmed on opening night (our first performance in front of a live audience). there are a few line flubs and tech mistakes, as we were still getting in the hang of things! by no means is this recording a perfect performance!

-credits are at the end of Act 5 along with a cover of Mr. Brightside lol

-this production is my BABY and I am so, so thankful that I have been gifted an audience to share it with. thank you for your time, your support, and your love. it means the world to me.

[hxasinthus]

good idea: a film version of hamlet set in the 80s where the opening credits have “funky town” playing over a travel sequence of horatio wearing a corduroy jacket listening to his walkman on a cross-country bus going to elsinore and for the first few minutes of the movie everyone in the audience is really confused because it’s supposed to be hamlet but this funky fresh opening sequence has severely caught them off guard 

but then at the very end of the movie we get a shot of horatio getting back onto the same bus to leave elsinore (because there’s nothing left for him here now) and he puts his headphones on and starts playing “died in your arms” while he leans his head against the glass window, and then the bus drives off and end credits begin to scroll

[gael-garcia]

Ruth Negga as Hamlet

Gate Theatre - Dublin, Ireland | 21 September - 27 October 2018

[ayliffe]