Hamlet

Dates of performance

January 1975

Overview

The Story of Hamlet
It needs not Shakespeare to find in every human life a mystery, said Frederick. Losey in a general introduction to the play. That he found it in Hamlet is true but no more true than that he found in every other character he ever drew. The widespread notion that there is something mysterious about Hamlet has led to much speculation appeal t o youth.
As is his usual custom when drawing a great character Shakespeare supplies us with a key I one of Hamlet’s earliest utterances which opens the door to a sufficient understanding of his character. When the Queen pleads with Hamlet to cast his ‘nighted colour off’, reminds him that loss of his father is ‘common’ and adds “f it be, why seems t so particular wait thee?” Hamlet in his reply frankly hands us the key to his character and through that, to the tragedy itself: Seems Madam, may, it is, I know not seems”. This line alone, if taken at its full value, is all we need in explanation of Hamlet’s of Hamlet’s tragedy. Hamlet is real, and to him grief and love and friendship and all the inner things of life are real. If he conforms to outward customs he never loses the distinction between appearances and reality. And this of course implies that he is youth of keenest sensibilities – one who knows by nature would suffer most severely from any great shock to his affairs or to his moral sense.
Let any reader, and especially any young man to whom his father is one whose like he ne’er will look upon again and whose mother has always been to him the highest ideal of woman, live, through even in imagination and experience of Hamlet: let such a young man profess to “know not seems” and then let him ask himself whether, if he escapes insanity from such a series of shocks, he could possibly escape some form of mental abnormality that would infer with the free course of action. It is necessary to his understanding of either Hamlet or the play that he shall imagine pursuing Hamlet’s course in procrastination; it is necessary only that he shall recognize that Hamlet’s procrastination is but manifestation of an abnormal state of mind induced by the experiences through which he has passed.
Hamlet is not a study in mental disorders; it is the story of the effects of the sin of lust and murder and incest not only upon the guilty but upon the innocent. Had Hamlet himself been a less sensitive soul, had loved and grief and ideals been to him only seeming, he might have retained his balance and acted instantly in revenge, thus avoiding the widespread consequences of the sin of Claudius and Gertrude. As he is, however, he is more terrible. It is the dynamic and explosive effect of Hamlet’s character in its reaction to the sin of the others that makes him per haps the most terrible of all Shakespeare’s tragic characters.

Cast List

CLAUDIUS King of Denmark JOSEPH O'CONOR
HAMLET Son of the late, and nephew tot the present King ROBIN HAWDON
POLOLIUS Lord Chamberlain DON MAGUIRE
HORATIO Friend of Hamlet EDWARD DAVYS
LAERTES Son of Polonius GLYNN DAY
ROSENCRANTZ Courtiers JAMIE CRAWFORD
GUILDENSTERN Courtiers PETER FOURIE
MARCELLUS Soldiers RON FENTON
BERNARDO Soldiers PETER ROPER
FRANCISCO Soldiers MARTIN CLOHESSY
PRIEST   DICK LEFTWICH
OSRIC   ALAN JOHNS
GHOST Of Hamlet’s father MICHAEL FISHER
GERTRUDE Queen of Denmark and mother to Hamlet CECILIA SONNENBERG
OPHELIA Daughter of Polonius SHIELA DAVIES
PRIEST   DICK LEFTWICH
PLAYER KING   MICHAEL FISHER
PLAYER QUEEN   ALAN JOHNS
1ST GRAVEDIGGER   RON FENTON
2ND GRAVEDIGGER   MARTIN NICHOLSON
LORDS AND LADIES QUITUS HAHNDIEK,
MARTIN NICHOLSON,
JANE FULLER,
JANNI ROPER,
PENNY FERROW

Creative List

STAGE DIRECTOR AVRIL BEE
STAGE MANAGER ANNE WILKINSON
COSTUMES JENNIFER CRAIG
WARDOBE MISTRESS DAISY ANN LOW
SET BILL SMUTS
F.O.H. MANAGER PADDY SCHILDER