Hard Night in Elsinore, A

Synopsis

Radio play written by Menzies McKillop and directed by Stewart Conn with William Lindsay as Hamlet and Graham Crowden as Ghost. According to Alex Hamilton who reviewed the broadcast for The Listener, the production should be classified as "a whimsical charade ... playing havoc with the Hamlet story". Featuring "Ophelia as a widowed woman running a dockside tavern", Hamlet as a "a retarded schoolboy", its plot is driven by "Gertrude’s ambition to put Denmark under necromantic control" (p. 717).

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Transmission details

13 May 1979 at 20:15 (Channel: BBC Radio 3)

Duration

45 mins

Availability

Unknown

Credits

Producer

Stewart Conn

Writer

Menzies McKillop

Cast

William Lindsay	Hamlet
Vivienne Dixon	Gertrude
Maureen Beattie	Ophelia
Alastair Wyllie	Marcellus
Andre Thornton-Grimes	Francisco
Arthur Boland	Othere
Graham Crowden	Ghost
Jill Fenner	Ship’s boy (Sailor)
Peter Chelsom	Horatio
Victor Carin	Barnardo

Additional Details

Production type

Television and Radio Drama

Plays

Hamlet

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes

Produced by BBC Scotland.

Reviews

Alex Hamilton concludes his review for The Listener (1979:101, p.717) with the comment: " The Captain who said ‘How am I to convey the character of an English seadog with a lot of Euphuistic tosh?' could have been speaking for the whole cast".

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)