National Theatre Live Screening: Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch
Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 6:30pm
by William Shakespeare
directed by Lyndsey Turner
A production from Sonia Friedman productions
Running time: 3 hours and 20 minutes, including a 20-minute interval
The production features strobe-lighting.
We know little about Shakespeare’s emotional state when he sat down to write Hamlet in the autumn of 1599, but if he was worn out it’s understandable. In the past year he had finished Henry V, then written Julius Caesar and As You Like It. If that were not enough, he had helped oversee the construction of the Globe Theatre, of which he was part owner, where his playing company had been performing since the summer.
Shakespeare’s workdays were long and gruelling. Because Elizabethan playgoers expected to see a different play every day, he and his fellow players had to commit to memory 15 or more new plays a year, working them into a repertory of 20 or so dependable hits. This meant that Shakespeare and his fellow actors would spend their mornings rehearsing that day’s play and their afternoons performing it at the Globe.
And in the evenings, while the others went off to their local, perhaps the Tabard Inn (apparently popular with Shakespeare as well, for it’s reported that along with leading members of his company he carved his name into that inn’s wood panelling), Shakespeare would return to his unfinished Hamlet, reading and writing by candlelight. And – this must surely rank among his greatest achievements – he managed to do all this, day in, day out, without the benefit of caffeine, for neither coffee nor tea had as yet been introduced into England.
The full version of this article, written by James Shapiro, appeared in the 2015 program for Hamlet.
Cast, in alphabetical order
Danish Soldier / Norwegian Soldier: Barry Aird
Captain / Servant: Eddie Arnold
Horatio: Leo Bill
Ophelia: Siân Brooke
Cornelius: Nigel Carrington
Player King: Ruairi Conaghan
Hamlet: Benedict Cumberbatch
Guildenstern: Rudi Dharmalingam
Priest / Messenger: Colin Haigh
Fencing Official: Paul Ham
Player Queen / Messenger: Diveen Henry
Gertrude: Anastasia Hille
Claudius: Ciarán Hinds
Laertes: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Ghost / Gravedigger: Karl Johnson
Polonius: Jim Norton
Stage Manager / Official: Amaka Okafor
Barnardo: Dan Parr
Courtier: Jan Shepherd
Voltemand: Morag Siller
Rosencrantz: Matthew Steer
Fortinbras: Sergo Vares
Marcellus: Dwane Walcott
All other roles covered by members of the company
Director: Lyndsey Turner
Set Design: Es Devlin
Costume Designer: Katrina Lindsay
Video Design: Luke Halls
Lighting Design: Jane Cox
Music: Jon Hopkins
Sound: Christopher Shutt
Movement: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Fights: Bret Yount
Casting: Julia Horan CDG
Director for Screen: Robin Lough
Technical Producer: Christopher C Bretnall
Script Supervisor: Judy Chesterman
Lighting Director: Bernie Davis
Sound Supervisor: Conrad Fletcher
Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) is an international production company responsible for some of the most successful theatre productions of recent years. Since 1990, Sonia Friedman OBE and SFP have developed, initiated and produced 160+ new productions and won a combined 55 Oliviers, 24 Tonys and 2 BAFTAs.
Recent West End and Broadway productions include: UK premiere of The Book of Mormon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, All About Eve, Dreamgirls, The Inheritance, Mean Girls, The Jungle, Fiddler on the Roof, Rosmersholm, Farinelli and the King, Travesties, and 1984.
soniafriedman.com
facebook/soniafriedmanproductions
@SFP_London
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