Globe to Globe Hamlet
This past Monday, February 29, happened to be a leap year day, a date added to most years that are divisible by 4, such as 2016 so next one will be in 2020. And it was also the date Hamlet came to Monaco in disguise as part of a world tour that started two years ago. On April 23, 2014 – the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth – Shakespeare’s Globe embarked upon a two-year global tour of Hamlet, the famous tragedy written by William Shakespeare (somewhere between 1599 and 1602), to every country in the world, opening at the Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London. The “Globe to Globe Hamlet”, directed by the Globe’s Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole, is a completely unprecedented theatrical adventure that will culminate on April 23, 2016, to coincide with the 400 years since Shakespeare’s death.
Travelling theatre
Sixteen remarkably men and women are currently travelling across the seven continents, performing in all kind of unique venues. This proves the saying by Velen the Prophet: “Not all who wander are lost”.
The troupe made a brief stopover at the Columbus Hotel in Fontvieille for a one night only appearance last Monday, for the delight of a privileged few who learned by chance of the last minute scheduled performance. I am sure if it had been announced well in advance and secured a larger venue, many more people would have had the chance to enjoy this magnificent production of the traditional play.
It was a riveting and captivating play that was highly acclaimed by the Monegasque public who applauded and cheered effusively! Many in the audience were English speaking, but the organizers had been thoughtful enough to give handouts with the script translated into French for those who did not master Shakespeare’s linguistic creativity!
Fresh version of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy
Learning of the king his father’s death, Hamlet comes home to find his uncle married to his mother and installed on the Danish throne. At night, the ghost of the old king demands that Hamlet avenge his ‘foul and most unnatural murder’. Encompassing political intrigue and sexual obsession, philosophical reflection and violent action, tragic depth and wild humor, Hamlet is Shakespeare’s ‘poem unlimited’, a colossus in the story of the English language and the fullest expression of Shakespeare’s genius.
The production is a youthful, modernistic version of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of deferred revenge that teases out its latent streak of gallows humor and celebrates the exuberance and invention of its language. Just twelve actors performed over two-dozen parts on a stripped-down wooden stage in a comparatively brisk two hours and forty minutes. Quite an endeavor!
The troupe packed their trunks and left Monaco swiftly towards their next destination in Andorra for another show . We wish them safe travels!
Today’s Quote
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” William Shakespeare
Monaco Reporter 