Hamlet – and so she thinks

Hamlet – a play for today

admin — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 18:34:13 +0000

You might think you know Shakespeare’s Hamlet inside out. In fact, you probably do. A play about political struggle, family dynamics and finding love, it remains as relevant as ever. As well as this, we experience Hamlet every day, as its words have entered our vocabulary as either mis quoted sayings (‘Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him’ – not ‘knew him well’), aphorisms so familiar we forget their source (The phrase ‘method in the madness’, ‘mortal coil’, ‘minds eye’, ‘own flesh and blood’, and ‘woe is me’ were all written by Shakespeare in Hamlet), or words that Shakespeare invented (rant, barefaced, excitement and outbreak were all first used in the play).

Kent based Changeling Theatre sure know Hamlet, and this summer celebrate their twentieth anniversary by touring the play around the South East. VThe company is founded on the idea that every community deserves to be able to see quality theatre, and so will be heading to beaches, gardens and castles in all sorts of spots to ensure a wide and varied audience can experience the wonder of Shakespeare.

Visiting over thirty venues and locations in total, the varied sites add a magical and unique quality to each performance. It’s a challenge for director Rob Forknall and designer Clare Southern, especially as the dark play is usually performed inside at darker venues. Yet they’ve managed to develop an atmosphere that the ten-strong cast – led by Alex Phelps as Hamlet – infuse with passion and soul.

Changeling Theatre have a reputation for charming, potent and captivating performances. Can they work their magic on Hamlet? See for yourself this summer.

Tickets start at £10 and are available here.

Shakespeare Shorts

admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 14:59:43 +0000

Shakespeare is so well known that it takes guts and effort to reinterpret in new ways that allow the brilliance to shine through for audiences in an accessible way, and Action To The Word manage this dynamically and dazzle with it in their production of Shakespeare Shorts, now on at independent venue Camden People’s Theatre.
Directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones, and with only a cast of ten, they effortlessly sparkle through some of the most emotional, hard hitting, resonant and profound scenes of the Bard’s work with a vibrancy that brings a fresh perspective to the eyes gathered in this small theatre. Dressed in black with minimal lighting, the ensemble clearly demonstrate the wisdom of the words and seem to accentuate this via the stark simplicity of all that they do. No set. No costume. Simply the power of their interpretation.
Punctuated with modern pop music to emphasise the shifts between scenes and plays (amongst others the soundtrack features Drop Dead Gorgeous by Republica, 10CC’s The Thing We Do For Love, and the classic True from Spandau Ballet) they rally through Hamlet, Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and well as others from the canon,with startling clarity and crispness. Managing to move between light comedy to powerful tragedy with fluidity and agility, keeping each clearly resonant, the Bard is brought up to date – or rather his universal themes are made blatantly obvious – love, sex, drugs, fun, violence and danger.
The company developed the production in Cambridge when most were still students, and it remains as slick and hard hitting as when they first performed it back in 2008. Click below for tickets.