RSC Live: Hamlet

Simon Godwin
2016-06-10

To be, or not to be, that is the question...
8
180 min

Hamlet has the world at his feet. Young, wealthy and living a hedonistic life studying abroad. Then word reaches him that his father is dead. Returning home he finds his world is utterly changed, his certainties smashed and his home a foreign land. Struggling to understand his place in a new world order he faces a stark choice. Submit, or rage against the injustice of his new reality. Simon Godwin (The Two Gentlemen of Verona 2014) directs Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in Shakespeare's searing tragedy. As relevant today as when it was written, Hamlet confronts each of us with the mirror of our own mortality in an imperfect world. Hamlet played in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon until throughout summer 2016.

Cast

Name Character Team
Paapa Essiedu Hamlet Unowned
Tanya Moodie Gertrude Unowned
Clarence Smith Claudius Unowned
Ewart James Walters Ghost / Gravedigger Unowned
Cyril Nri Polonius Unowned
Marcus Griffiths Laertes Unowned
Natalie Simpson Ophelia Unowned
Hiran Abeysekera Horatio Unowned
James Cooney Rosencrantz Unowned
Bethan Cullinane Guildenstern Unowned
Romayne Andrews Osric Unowned
Doreene Blackstock Player Queen Unowned
Eke Chukwu Voltemand Unowned
Marième Diouf Cornelia Unowned
Kevin Golding Barnardo / Player King Unowned
Byron Mondahl Professor of Wittenberg / English Ambassador Unowned
Theo Ogundipe Marcellus / Fortinbras Unowned
Temi Wilkey Francisca / Gravedigger's Assistant Unowned