Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction

by Tony Howard

The first Hamlet on film was Sarah Bernhardt. Probably the first Hamlet on radio was Eve Donne. Ever since the late eighteenth century, leading actresses have demanded the right to play the role - Western drama's greatest symbol of active consciousness and conscience. Their iconoclasm, and Hamlet's alleged 'femininity', have fascinated playwrights, painters, novelists and film-makers from Eugène Delacroix and the Victorian novelist Mary Braddon to Angela Carter and Robert Lepage. Crossing national and media boundaries, this book addresses the history and the shifting iconic status of the female Hamlet in writing and performance. Many of the performers were also involved in radical from Stalinist Russia to Poland under martial law, actresses made Hamlet a symbol of transformation or crisis in the body politic. On stage and film, women reinvented Hamlet from Weimar Germany to the end of the Cold War. This book aims to put their half-forgotten achievements centre-stage.

Genres: Nonfiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2007

Reviews

[Mark Ludmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and thorough survey of women playing Hamlet, mainly on stage but also on film, from the 18th century to 2000, focusing on Europe and the US. Filled with insights from actors and directors on why the role has attracted so many women and how it relates to performance of gender.

[Julija · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't finished this and I have to return it to the library, but what I've read so far was absolutely BRILLIANT and I feel so so honored that I got to play this role

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

girlboss

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting on the actresses who took on the role of Hamlet.