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Hamnet
Dead Centre’s new solo work for an eleven -year-old boy is devoted to Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet, who died in 1596, only eleven himself.A single letter separates Hamnet from the philosophical heights of Hamlet. Unlike the Prince, he cannot ask ‘to be or not to be’. Condemned not to be, he now seeks to understand the world from which he has been wrested. Hamnet is too young to understand Shakespeare. We are too old to understand Hamnet. Two generations, asking each other what they want to pass on and receive.
64 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 21, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 23, 2023
First off, no this is NOT the novel about Shakespeare's son who died young, by Maggie O'Farrell (which I also enjoyed!), although the subject matter is the same.
I'm always drawn to theatre that tries to expand the boundaries of what a play can be and like the two previous scripts I've read by the Dead Centre collective, this does that in spades. An hour-long show for two actors (and an unwitting audience member) it is both unique and quite innovative in its use of projections - although how a projected actor vomits real puke onto the stage, I have no idea! (Come on, the script is only 39 pages long - surely you could have told us how all the theatrical 'tricks' were accomplished! Would love to see this performed.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/st...
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2...
https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/theat...
I'm always drawn to theatre that tries to expand the boundaries of what a play can be and like the two previous scripts I've read by the Dead Centre collective, this does that in spades. An hour-long show for two actors (and an unwitting audience member) it is both unique and quite innovative in its use of projections - although how a projected actor vomits real puke onto the stage, I have no idea! (Come on, the script is only 39 pages long - surely you could have told us how all the theatrical 'tricks' were accomplished! Would love to see this performed.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/st...
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2...
https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/theat...
April 23, 2021
This isn't really my cup of tea but the english literature student in me wanted to get some contextual information about Hamnet to spice up my essays. This play is definitely not that, which threw me off a bit. Whilst the mood of the play was very tumultuous aka SUPER FUNNY EXCITING to MAD SAD, it was a thought provoking piece, especially that final image of the empty audience. Overall, the writing is fascinating and I love the concept, motifs (eg. The barrier between 'to be or not to be', the mirror, the news) and themes (how language affects our perspective of the world, grief) but it was a little too on the nose for me. I'd love to see this be performed though!
May 30, 2020
Short but affecting
At times too clever for its boots but in the end far more touching than I could have suspected. The dull infinite pain of the loss of a child is interpreted here, questions of mortality and memory, the relationship between grief and art. I would love to have seen it live.
At times too clever for its boots but in the end far more touching than I could have suspected. The dull infinite pain of the loss of a child is interpreted here, questions of mortality and memory, the relationship between grief and art. I would love to have seen it live.
May 29, 2020
A fascinating play. I’d love to see it performed.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews