Details

Written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness - from overwhelming grief to seething rage - and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption. This production has been firmly relocated to our own divided little island. In the near future our country is fragmented and broken; a disunited kingdom. Amid the rubble of the old politics a popular sovereign rose to power, King Hamlet, promising a return to England's golden age. But now the king is dead, murdered, and in the ensuing bloodbath his brother has seized the throne. In the age of paranoia, conspiracy theories thrive. Our post-truth world is turning its back on a shared objective truth. We are all Hamlet's children now; we sense that something is broken, we feel that everything is wrong, but we know not what to do. As our leaders plot and scheme for power, as mobs agitate, and people protest, we are heading towards a political cliff with no-one seemingly able to stop our fall. How can we find our way out of this maze of our own making? Are we prisoners of our own confirmation-bias? Only able to see the world through the distorted lens of our own personal bubble? Who are the enemies of the people? Should we try to stop them? And what happens if we try?

Cast/Performers

Jenet Le Lacheur (Hamlet), Clare Bloomer (Gertrude), Vinta Morgan (Claudius), Paula James (Polonius), Jenny Horsthuis (Ophelia), Joe Parker (Laertes), Harold Addo (Horatio)

Creatives/Company

Author: Shakespeare
Company: Iris Theatre
Director: Daniel Winder
Design: Mike Leopold
Choreographer: Nathaniel Marten (fights)
Costume: Mady Berry
Lighting: Benjamin Polya
Sound: Filipe Gomes