A two hour adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic study on murder, madness and mayhem, directed by Steven O’Shea, comes to the New Venture Theatre on Fri 16 – Sat 24 Jan 2015.
“The spirit I have seen
May be a devil, and the devil hath power
T’assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me.”
Prince Hamlet’s world is in turmoil. With the sudden death of his father and his mother’s unseemly haste in marrying the late King’s brother, Hamlet’s only solace is a burgeoning relationship with his beloved Ophelia.
When he receives a visitation from a supernatural entity claiming to be his father’s ghost begging revenge for its regicide, a cataclysmic chain of events is unleashed involving murder, madness, betrayal and revenge. Arguably the creative and artistic pinnacle of Shakespeare’s unrivalled body of work, this abridged version concentrates the action on the two families at the heart of the drama.
Hamlet is acclaimed as the greatest play ever written, but O’Shea Isn’t daunted by the task of adapting the most widely seen, read, quoted, and analysed piece of dramatic literature in history. “My journey through the works of Shakespeare has brought me much enrichment, delight and pleasure,” he says. “His wonderful characters, compelling dramatic situations, the beauty and power of his language and his unsurpassed understanding of the human condition ensure his position, as the world’s greatest playwright, remains unassailable.”
This will be Steven O’Shea’s fourth directorial production at the New Venture Theatre following David Mamet’s ‘Speed the Plow’ in 2011, Berkoff‘s ‘Kvetch’ in 2012 and Pinter ‘s ‘Old Times’ by Harold in 2014).
The cast for this production includes Jonny Parlett (Hamlet), Jim Calderwood (Claudius), Sarah Davies (Gertrude), Lily Crossfield (Ophelia), Mike Stubbs (Ghost), Jerry Lyne (Polonius) and James Harkness (Laertes).
Hamlet comes to New Venture Theatre on Fri 16 – Sat 24 Jan 2015.
