Trevor Nunn (1970) – O | Ophelia and Laertes as a flirtatious double |
Branagh (1996) – O | Shows a flashback of Hamlet and Ophelia in bed |
Gregory Doran – RSC (2009) – O | Ophelia strips to underwear in mad scene, raging and frenetic |
Romantic performances – ophelia | Showalter – ‘picturesque madness’ – virginal white |
Tony Richardson (1969) – G | Animalistic behaviour, unattractive Gertrude and Claudius feast with their dogs on greasy chicken and wine |
Olivier (1948) – G | Luxurious canopied bed – symbolises Gertrude’s centrality to play and her sexual appetite |
Gregory Doran (2009) – G | Gertrude speaks to cracked mirror – duality + broken identity |
Olivier (1948) – ghost | Mysterious questionable presence strikes fear in Hamlet |
Zefferelli (1990) – ghost | Vulnerable human, sitting down, communication between Hamlet and father |
Matthew Warchus (1997) – ghost | Hamlet holds father’s ashes while Claudius’ tribute to his brother plays over speakers |
Lysndsey Turner (2015) | ‘Intergenerational trauma’ – deaths of younger generation are necessary to purify corrupt Denmark |
Ronald Daniels 1984 – Claudius | Bombastic Claudius – represents change in Elsinore |
David Garrick (1763) | Focus on the family and filial emotions |
Grigori Kozintsev (1964) | Elsinore in the light of Stalin’s prison camps – Hamlet depicted as heroic in his resistance to oppression |
Hansgunther Heyme (1979) | Explores the boundaries between illusion and reality – Hamlet represented by two actors, one in auditorium and one on stage, a prisoner of his coarse sexual fantasies |
Ronald Daniels 1984 | Contrast between old court represented by Gertrude and Hamlet and new loutish court characterised by Brian Blessed’s bombastic Claudius |
H. K. Ayliff (1925) | Ophelia’s sexually explosive mad scenes were the result of suppression of her natural desires and wishes by men |
Robert Icke (2017) – ophelia | Rigid limbed in a wheelchair |
Robert Icke (2017) – gertrude and claudius | in love |
Grigori Kozintsev (1964) – gertrude | self-satisfied woman with strong appetites – gazes into hand mirror |
Pre 1900 – Polonius | same actor played Polonius and the witty gravedigger |
Nicholas Hytner (2010) – polonius | looks up as he states ‘to thine own self be true’, suggesting awareness of Hamlet’s murder |
Richard Burton (1964) – polonius | comic |
Gregory Doran (2009) and Maxine peake (2014) productions | same actor plays Claudius and Old Hamlet ghost |
Hamlet productions
September 3, 2019