Tuesday 29th April, 10:00am-5:30pm
York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium
A day exploring, deconstructing, and imagining Hamlet in a world-wide context.
Death by Hamlet is a day packed full of new ways of seeing Shakespeare’s most recognizable play. Perfect for those who want to extend and enrich their understanding of the Danish Prince, the day will be a mix of talks and practical workshops, as well as two exciting performances.
The morning begins with Alex Wright’s brand-new production HAMLET SHOW (£5). Then, Saffron Vickers Walkling, in conversation with Nicoleta Cinpoes will talk about worldwide productions of Hamlet.
The afternoon will include a practical workshop led by Festival Director Philip Parr, the chance to celebrate Hamlets around the world, as we see just how many languages we can translate the famous soliloquy ‘To be or Not to be’ into – feel free to bring a translation to contribute, and a foray into Hamlet in music.
The whole day will be a perfect way for students studying Hamlet at any level to widen their understanding of the play.
10:00 HAMLET SHOW – an idea by Alexander Wright (Tickets £5 for this show)
11:45 Join us for an exciting in-conversation with YISF festival advisors Dr Saffron Vickers Walkling (York St John University) and Prof Nicoleta Cinpoes (University of Worcester) as they discuss world-wide productions of Hamlet. Saffron and Nicoleta met at the International Shakespeare Festival in Craiova, Romania in 2010 for the performance and seminar series, Hamlet Constellation. Both have published widely in the field. Saffron has a forthcoming book on Hamlet and the legacy of 1989 and Nicoleta’s works include Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Romania 1778-2008 and Shakespeare on European Festival Stages. They are currently collaborating on a project about representations of Ophelia. Against the backdrop of an exhibition of photographs and objects from that initial Shakespeare festival that framed their first meeting, they will be reflecting on how Hamlet has travelled and how, in the modern world, its spectators travel too.
The conversation will be facilitated by York St John PhD candidate Mie Claridge, whose research area in contemporary literature explores how we use story telling to make sense of our world. This is part of the ESRA series of events at YISF.
12:45am Q&A
1:00pm Break
2:00pm Workshop with actor Brett Brown
An award-winning actor, Brett has performed with the Royal Shakespeare
Company, Shakespeare’s Globe, in plays on London’s West End and in theatre
festivals around the world. Highlights include the world premiere of Fishskin
Trousers in London; Hamlet at Kornborg Castle Denmark and in Seoul, South
Korea. He has performed his solo Henry V at all the major European
Shakespeare festivals and continues to tour it internationally.
3:30pm To Be or Not To Be -International Readings
4:00pm Desert Island Discs – Hamlet Edition
5:00pm Exhibition Introduction by Prof Nicoleta Cinpoes
Be sure to join us for Ridiculusmus’ show Alas! Poor Yorick at Theatre @41 at 7:30pm. (Tickets £15)
Free
