The Bard is back! Shakespeare’s Globe brings Hamlet to Bucharest

“A slick and engaging production cleverly tuned to outdoor touring locations” wrote the Financial Times about a performance of Hamlet in 2011. Bucharest audiences will now be able to judge for themselves, as the Globe Theatre is bringing the same production to Bucharest on May 30 and 31.

The iconic tragedy will be staged in Saint Anton Square (near the Old Court, behind Hanul lui Manuc), the Old City Center, as part of the Bucharest International Street Theatre Festival.

Encompassing political intrigue and sexual obsession, philosophical reflection and violent action, Hamlet is Shakespeare’s ‘poem unlimited’, a colossus in the history of the English language and held by many to be the fullest expression of the Bard’s genius.

The production has been described as “a young, fresh version of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of deferred revenge that teases out its latent streak of gallows humor and celebrates the exuberance and invention of its language”. The creative team behind the new performance includes directors Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst, designer Jonathan Fensom, Bill Barclay as composer/musical director, and Laura Forrest-Hay, providing additional original music.

Twelve actors will perform over two dozen parts on a stripped-down wooden stage in a comparatively brisk two hours and forty minutes: Ladi Emeruwa and Naeem Hayat (Hamlet), John Dougall, Rawiri Paratene and Keith Bartlett (Claudius & Polonius), Phoebe Fildes and Amanda Wilkin (Ophelia/Gertrude/Horatio/Rosencrantz), Miranda Foster (Gertrude), Beruce Khan, Tom Lawrence and Matthew Romain (Horatio/Rosencrantz/Laertes/Guildenster) and Jennifer Leong (Ophelia/Horatio/Rosencrantz). The actors will perform different roles in each country.

It is the same Globe On Tour production that travelled around the UK, Europe and the United States in 2011 and 2012, when the New York Times called it “a production that prizes efficiency, clarity, accessibility and above all energy”, while the Daily Telegraph praised its “young, unjaded and open-hearted” portrayal of the Danish prince. This is the Globe troupe’s second visit to the streets of Bucharest, following a 2012 tour that brought a hugely well received As You Like It to the space in front of the Atheneum.

The event will take place in Saint Anton Square (near the Old Court, behind Hanul lui Manuc) on May 30, from 20.00 and on May 31, from 15.00. The entrance is free of charge but due to the large number of viewers we encourage you to go there earlier. Moreover, the performance does not have any type of sound system so do expect to pay more attention to what is happening.