Hamlet

Synopsis: Cambridge Experimental Theatre’s Hamlet, adapted for the stage by Roland Kenyon, challenges the entrenched notions of naturalism, sanctity of text, one-man-one-part and the tragic male hero, in a production which combines a rigorous re-evaluation of Shakespeare’s text with the theatricality and spectacle of oriental theatre. A cast of four whisper, chant, dance and wrestle their way through the pre-occupations of a constantly shifting and fragmenting central character, providing a frightening commentary on the instability of the human personality. This video version uses the medium to extend and heighten the discontinuities and ambiguities located at the centre of the production.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1987
Duration: 95 mins

Director

Roderick Macdonald

Producer

Richard Spaul; Roderick Macdonald

Writer

William Shakespeare

Contributor

Roland Kenyon

Cast

Notes: Material is made available to staff and students of the University only; outside researchers requiring access should contact the Librarian regarding the possibility of onsite viewing.
Uses: Students of Shakespeare/drama/television.*
Reviews: `Fragments’ by Samuel Crowl and Mary Z. Maher’Stage Into Film Doesn’t Go’ in Shakespeare on Film Newsletter. Vol. 13, no 1 (December 1988), p 7. Holderness, Graham ‘Shakespeare Rewound’ in Visual Shakespeare: Essays in Film and Television’(Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2002), pp. 80-3.

British Universities Film & Video Council