What can you say about the play, HAMLET that hasn't been said already? Gallons of ink and thousands of megabytes, if not terabytes have been used to describe and analyse the plot, the characters, the significance etc. etc. of the play. Therefore I will not deal with any of these aforementioned topics but will concentrate on some of the more marginal aspects of this play.
Shakespeare may have used several different sources for this play but which one we cannot say definitely. He could have based his play on one of the following or a combination of Saxo Grammaticus' work, Historia Danica, or Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) c.1200, which told of the story of King Amleth or he may have referred to Histoires Tragiques, Extraicts des Oeuvres Italiennes de Bandel (1559-82) by Francois de Belleforest, or Timothy bright's play, Treatise of Melancholy. It is known that there was an earlier version of Hamlet in existence, this play now called Ur-Hamlet but it has been lost since it was acted in 1594. This last play may have been written by WS's fellow playwright, Thomas Kyd.
However, we do know that contemporary records show that Shakespeare was paid five pounds for this play (probably something equivalent to 3,500 pounds in today's money) and that the first actor to play this role was Richard Burbage, WS's friend, fellow-actor and business partner.
Shakespeare's Hamlet was first performed by the King's Men at the Globe in 1601 or 1602 and then it was performed in Oxford and Cambridge in 1603. The next known performance took place on a boat - Captain Keeling's East Indiaman's merchant ship and then possibly, the next recorded performance took place in front of King James I at court. We also know that another performance at Hampton Court took place 'before the kinge (Charles I) and queene' (Henrietta Maria) on January 24th 1637.
This play has attracted the most famous actors of the day to perform the leading role including David Garrick who, in 1772 produced a refined version at Drury Lane which excluded the graveyard scene. Edmund Kean (1787-1833) played this role two hundred years ago and Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and David Warner played the Danish Prince in the 20th century. Olivier also acted this role in a filmed version in 1948 and Kenneth Brannagh followed suit in an impressive version in 1996. Nicol Williamson gave an energetic version of Hamlet in 1969 and Mel Gibson also played this part in 1990. Director Michael Almereyda had Ethan Hawke play the title role in 2000 in which the play is set against the backdrop of new York.
Sarah Bernhardt playing Hamlet over one hundred years ago.
But it was not only men who played this role; women did as well. The first actress who played Hamlet on the professional stage was Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) while Sarah Bernhardt played an unforgettable Hamlet one hundred years later.
In Shakespeare 101, Michael LoMonico lists 101 actors/ actresses who have played Hamlet. Read this list carefully. Some of the names may surprise you. They include: Ian Bannen, Alan Bates John Barrymore, Simon Beale, Edwin Booth, Richard Burton, Richard Chamberlain, Tom Courtney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Maurice Evans, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney Alec Guinness, Harry Hamlin, Leslie Howard, William Hurt, Henry Irving, Derek Jacobi, Charles Kean, Val Kilmer, Ben Kingsley, Kevin Kline, Raymond Massey, Ian McKellan, Siobhan McKenna, Burgess Meredith, Peter O'Toole, Ronald Pickup, Christopher Plummer, Michael Redgrave, Mark Rylance,Maximillian Schell, Paul Scofield, Martin Sheen, Robert Vaughan, Sam Waterston Orson Welles and Zapatka.
Next time: More on "Hamlet."
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