Hamlet

A journey into Hamlet the play and the man, through the experiences of the major actors and directors who have brought the play to life. Filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon, in London, Canada and Italy, featuring Christopher Plummer, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, John Nettles, John Simm and David Tennant.

Called “the greatest Hamlet of his generation” by Guardian reviewer Robert McCrum, Scottish actor David Tennant headlines this edgy film version of the acclaimed 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company stage production. Tennant is supported by a host of gifted players—including the impeccable Patrick Stewart as Claudius and Oliver Ford Davies in an astonishing performance as a doddering yet strangely leonine Polonius. Modern costumes, shrewd textual abridgements, and a recurring motif of high-tech video surveillance all connect the play to 21st-century anxieties, but these attributes in no way eclipse Tennant’s forceful mixture of rage, sorrow, and manic humor. A BBC Production.

It’s easy to assume that Hamlet has always enjoyed global popularity, but only within the last century and a half has Shakespeare’s great tragedy achieved iconic status. Why does it resonate so deeply with modern audiences? This video helps viewers contemplate that subject, recording students from top London drama schools as they work on Hamlet’s most famous passage—Act III, Scene 1, in which the Danish prince must decide whether to be or not to be. Rehearsals and a finalized performance are followed by intense discussion among the young actors. Part of the series Training for Shakespeare: Young Actors’ Workshops at the Globe Theatre. (15 minutes)

To be or not to be, that is the question. Fortunately, the Standard Deviants have the answer. It's an all-star review of that troubled prince of Denmark, Hamlet. Hamlet is one of the most popular plays of all time. Why? Mystery! Murder! Madness! Mayhem! Plays within plays! And some of the most famous lines in all of English theater.