Hamlet

About

Robert Icke’s production of Hamlet reimagines Elsinore as a paranoid, contemporary surveillance state. Hildegard Bechtler’s design places the action in a sleek modern palace with lounges, fairy lights, and sliding screens, while CCTV monitors and live video feeds underscore the theme of constant observation; the Ghost first appears on these security screens, giving the supernatural a technological edge. Andrew Scott delivers an intimate, conversational Hamlet, bringing soliloquies directly to the audience at the front of the stage. The family dynamics are sharply etched, with Gertrude and Claudius portrayed through palpable physical infatuation. Music by Bob Dylan, including Not Dark Yet, threads through the staging to heighten key emotional moments, notably the final duel.