The Many Faces of Hamlet



The Many Faces of HamletNow that you have read through one of Shakespeare’s most famous works, it is time to explore how Hamlet has been interpreted and performed throughout the hundreds of years it has existed. You are going to visit each of these websites in order to learn some about how Hamlet has been interpreted over the years and about specific productions of the play. After you visit these websites and answer the questions about them, you will use staging to present specific interpretations of Hamlet. While you can take inspiration from some of these real life productions you will read about, I encourage you to think outside the box and really focus on the parts of the play that you find most interesting! There are plenty of reasons that Hamlet has stayed so popular for so long, and one of them is the ambiguity of so many elements of the play. There are lots of things that can be reinterpreted and played with, and you will get the chance to step into a director’s shoes and do that interpretation. Website 1: and This website has several video clips of productions of Hamlet. For this website, watch “David Tennant, ‘To be or not to be’ speech from Hamlet” by Folger Shakespeare Library. Then watch “Shakespeare at the Laundromat Hamlet Trailer” by John Middleton. These are both clips of Hamlet’s most famous monologue. After you watch both clips, answer the following questions.Which video do you like better? Why? What tone does the setting of each of these clips create? In a documentary about Hamlet, David Tennant said “There are as many different Hamlets as there have been actors to play him.” Do you think these two clips support or undermine his claim? Why? Website 2: website is an article about two Chinese adaptations of Hamlet. These productions show that there are differences in how different cultures interpret and perform Hamlet. Read the article and then answer the following questions. What are some elements of the original Hamlet that these Chinese adaptations maintain?What are some elements of the original Hamlet that these Chinese adaptations change?How do you think these adaptations exemplify this quote towards the end of the work, “both Hamlet adaptations ‘make foreign things serve China and make the past serve the present.’”? Are there any cultural practices or aspects of the United States that you think could play a large role in how we interpret Hamlet? What do you think some of these things are? Website 3: website is the website for the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. Browse the Hamlet page, paying particular attention to the interactive timeline and the past production tabs. After looking through the page, answer these questions. Look at the costuming choices of various productions. How do you think some of the costumes, even the modern ones, reflect the characters? Give specific examples.When you browse the timeline, what are some themes or character traits that come up repeatedly as specific focuses of directors?Which production looks most interesting to you? What about your chosen production do you find most interesting and compelling? Website 4: this website focuses on literary interpretations of Hamlet rather than staged interpretations, its focus on how interpretations have shifted over time is important to note. Read through the article and answer the following questions. You may also want to have your copy of Hamlet nearby to refer to certain scenes. Based on the article and what you know from history, what are some ways in which the historical events of the day affected the interpretation of Hamlet or what literary critics focused on? Give specific examples. The ninth paragraph discusses feminist interpretations of Hamlet. What are some scenes or aspects of Ophelia and Gertrude that a director could focus on in order to highlight the oppression they experienced at the hands of the men in their families? The seventh and eighth paragraphs discuss new historical interpretations of Hamlet. What are some scenes a director could focus on in order to highlight the political unrest within the play? What are some current events today that you can see being woven into a production of Hamlet? Give specific examples of where these current events could be introduced into the plot. Website 5: article is a blog written from an actress that played Claudius in an all female cast of Hamlet. She discusses how this influenced the audience’s perception of the character. Read the article then answer the following questions. What are traits of other characters besides Claudius that you think would be brought out from an all female cast? Do you think the audience’s perceptions of the show would be shifted even more if the director had changed the character’s pronouns to reflect the actors’ genders? Piccotto notes that Hamlet’s grief makes him an “unreliable source” in regards to information about Claudius. Who are other characters that Hamlet may be unfairly representing to the audience because of his mental state? How can directors challenge the characters Hamlet paints while still being true to the text? Now it’s your turn to be the director! You have been asked by the local Shakespeare company to put on a production of Hamlet. The catch is that the company wants it to be a fresh take on the old classic. You need to draw up a proposal for the production to present to the company. The proposal must include a paragraph about the setting, a paragraph about the costuming, and a paragraph about specific character traits and themes you wish to highlight in your production and how your chosen setting and costuming can help highlight these things. The paragraph about themes and character traits should include textual evidence for the themes and traits you select. You should include at least three pictures (either hand-drawn or from the internet) of inspiration for your setting and one picture each of a costume for Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes, Guildenstern, and Rosencrantz. Finally, you will write a paragraph about how you plan to cast your show and what kinds of actors and actresses you will be looking for to play your characters. ................
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