Hamlet

Studio Antigone / Agaath Witteman

HAMLET was written in a time of unrest in Elizabethan England. A turmoil that Shakespeare projected onto Denmark: the Norseman Fortinbras is rattling the royal gates, the people smell a violation of the royal bloodline: 'the State is hanging at the seams,' a feeling of which at this time our country is also permeated.

Run time 150 minutes without intermission
Genre Theatre
Language Dutch

Hamlet

Prince Hamlet's life is set in the court of the autocrat Claudius who, after poisoning his brother, Hamlet's father, has seized the crown and his wife Gertrude. In our world, too, autocratic power-seekers are increasing rapidly. Very disturbing, because what do autocrats do? Anything to get into power and anything to stay in power. Claudius fits right into that picture. He poisons the king to become king himself; he orders Hamlet killed because what Hamlet knows threatens his kingship.

Meanwhile, what does Prince Hamlet do? It is clear from the beginning that he is suffering severely from the infidelity of his mother who married Claudius so soon after his father's death. When he meets his father's ghost a scene later and is tasked with avenging his father's death on Claudius, the time bomb begins to tick. Does Hamlet choose to act? No, Hamlet does nothing. He thinks, weighs, and philosophizes about revenge rather than carrying it out. Hamlet himself despises his indecision but defers.

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Why this procrastination? Lots of books have searched for answers over the centuries. Well, just stop searching and read the text! Shakespeare himself offers us the key to understanding this flight behavior. It lies in the monologues in which he lets Hamlet's “inner voice be heard".

Director Agaath Witteman has proven throughout her now 45-year career, as she did last season with Sophocles' Antigone, that respect for the writer's language can be combined with extremely modern theater suitable for a wide audience.

Reviews

Theaterkrant

"Hamlet is a popular play this season, and Studio Antigone's interpretation offers new perspectives."

Credits

with Julien Croiset, Hans Croiset, Thijs Prein, Marguerite de Brauw, Lidewij Mahler, Toto van Stekelenburg, Yannick Bronkhorst, Kyra Kay van de Watering, Stefana Kraaijestein, Scott Reniers and Henri Overduin
direction Agaath Witteman
translation Bert Voeten
pictures Marieke Timp