Bell Shakespeare’s HAMLET

Whether you’re a Shakespeare fanatic or a newbie, you’ve surely heard the famous “to be or not to be” line.

Damien Ryan’s production of Hamlet opens at the Sydney Opera House after four months performing in sold-out venues around Australia. With an extremely talented cast including Josh McConville, Matilda Ridgway and Sean O’Shea, it’s not something to miss.

This critically-acclaimed performance of one of Shakespeare’s most complex and well-renowned plays is set in Elsinore, Denmark, and follows the story of a depressed young man dealing with his father’s death and his mother’s infidelity, with her sudden marriage to his uncle, the new King. When the ghost of his father reappears to inform him that he was murdered by his brother, Hamlet is charged with avenging his father’s death.

According to Damien Ryan: “Hamlet is one of the most complete experiences theatre can provide––extraordinary poetry, intense passion, dazzling intelligence, terror, casual slaughter, friendship, humanity, great humour and great grief. Shakespeare casts his spell through the sheer scope and grandeur of this story, beginning with a dead man walking and ending with a stage littered with bodies.”

The inherently flawed character of Hamlet is plagued with indecision and inability to act, making him the modern anti-hero. Family drama, politics, war, tyranny, loyalty, friendship, romance and death; this play has it all. (ASha)

Oct 27–Dec 6. Sydney Opera House. $75. Tickets & info: bellshakespeare.com.au 

BY ANVI SHARMA