Welcome to the Shakespeare Bill

Vol.3.1
Special Edition
 Hamlet

"Who's there?"

The first two words set the tone of this play at once, creating an atmosphere of tension and anxiety. Shakespeare's first scene suggests an atmosphere of imminent danger and the need to be wary. What we eventually learn is that danger is not lurking outside the castle, but inside the human soul.

Within a couple of scenes, you find that Hamlet's father has been murdered, an acting troupe comes into town, a ghost tells Hamlet about his father's murderer, and Hamlet designs a strategy for taking revenge...he plays a character of himself through which he says what he really means.

And so, by creating a play within a play, Shakespeare shows us how to write a play, about Hamlet's inner drama where he struggles to become a new kind of hero, although appearing mad to everyone around him.

Hamlet: The Script

Some trivia about the play...

Hamlet is the only play that has inspired its own cult...Hamletology. These people can recite every record breaking statistic about the play.

Here are some interesting ones:

  • Hamlet has been performed more than any other play in the world more has been written about it than any other work
  • It's been translated more than any other play
  • There are more than 45 movie versions of the play
  • The first book written on Hamlet was published in 1736.
  • The line "To be, or not to be" is the most quoted phrase in the English language
  • There have been hippie Hamlets and nude ones, and the role has been played by dwarfs, fat men, tiny men, women, and twins.
  • It has inspired 26 ballets, 6 operas, and dozens of musical works.
  • Hamlet has more lines than any other Shakespearean character.
  • There have been Hamlet cigars, bicycles, beer and laundry mats, Hamlet jewelry, games, paper dolls, and maps of the world abound with towns, streets and business establishments called Hamlet.
  • Hamlet is the longest play Shakespeare wrote.

Some Famous Hamlets

John Barrymore
Jack Benny
Sarah Bernhardt
Mel Brooks
Richard Burton
Richard Chamberlain
Mel Gibson
Alec Guiness
William Hurt
Buster Keaton
Laurence Olivier
Peter O'Toole
Christopher Plummer

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