‘A mirror up to nature’ : rereading Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and its concern with performance, with reference to twenty-first-century productions

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the aspects of theatre and performance present in Hamlet, and analyses how these are interpreted on the twenty-first-century stage. Hamlet himself draws attention to the nature of acting in the play, to the idea of seeming and hiding behind the truth; a concept which I find to be present in the relation between actor and the character interpreted. This dissertation surveys the actor/character relation and considers how gender is portrayed on stage in cross-casting productions, with special reference given to Peter Zadek’s 2000 production of Hamlet and Sarah Frankcom’s 2014 Royal Exchange Manchester adaptation. The analysis then shifts to explore Hamlet’s own performance of a madman, which complicates Hamlet’s position in this dichotomy between appearance and reality. Hamlet, therefore, is studied not simply as a character to be embodied by an actor, but as a performer himself, especially in his mask of feigned madness and in his participation in the play-within-the play. This dissertation finally studies the play’s adaptability to fit the contemporary world and argues how the stage becomes a dramatized mirror of the culture and society of our time. The concept of surveillance present in most twenty-first-century productions is analysed, referring to several contemporary adaptations including Gregory Doran’s 2008 RSC production and Nicholas Hytner’s 2010 NT production.