education

HAMLET

Screening & Film Education Workshop
7pm, Sunday 12th @ The Strand Multiplex

With an intention similar to 1997's Romeo + Juliet, this updated version of Shakespeare's timeless play uses the techniques of modern filmmaking to produce a new interpretation of Hamlet to a new audience. Film Education will lead a deconstruction of the film with several of the actors involved with the production.

Drama is always about conflict of some kind. Explain the central conflict in Hamlet. What other secondary conflicts are there?

We are used to the image of a brooding Hamlet dressed in black, talking to a skull. Do you think that the modern setting of the film has made the play easier to understand?

Pay attention to the first scene of the play, when the ghost of Hamlet's dead father appears on the battlements. How is the scene played in the film? Is it as effective?

Make a list of the structure of the play as written by Shakespeare (full-length version). Now make a list of the scenes as they appeared in the film. How dramatically, if at all, has Almereyda re-structured the play for the screen?

The film version mixes the words of Shakespeare, full of personification, simile and metaphor, with the bold images and camera work of filmmaker Michael Almereyda. Do the images in the film complement or overwhelm the images that Shakespeare invites you to conjure in your head?

We never see Ophelia commit suicide in the play - we just hear a sorrowful Gertrude relate a romanticised version of her death (Act 4, Scene 7). Is the film's version of her death more effective?

It was only with the Victorians' fascination with all things Elizabethan that the precedent was set to perform Shakespeare's plays in traditional Shakespearean costume. Up until that point, his plays had been updated and performed in contemporary (to the audience at the time) dress. With this in mind, do you think Shakespeare would have approved of this latest version of Hamlet?

You're an award-winning television reporter who has stumbled upon the bloodbath at the end of the play. You are first on the scene, and you know you have a scoop on your hands. Write a report on the scene in front of you to read to camera, interview any survivors, and prepare a running commentary of subsequent events.

[VHS copies of Hamlet (1948 and 1996 versions) are available to purchase from www.blackstar.co.uk for GBP £5.99].