Hamlet - Movie Discussion

Welcome back, fellow Bard stans~.

I'm sorry that this post is a couple days late, I've been under the weather and got my days mixed up. Last week we finished Hamlet. THE HAMLET which is considered by many to be the peak of Shakespeare's work. There are a lot of Hamlet adaptations that take it in different directions, but I think we need to talk about the most famous Hamlet adaptation that some might not even realize is one...

The Lion King. (also its sequels are other Shakespeare plays but shh).

There are also a ton of stage productions of Hamlet with everyone from Benedict Cumberbatch playing a slightly more modern Hamlet to Sir Patrick Stewart giving a stirring soliloquy on Sesame Street of all places to David Tennant playing him. You can see some of the past productions of Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare Company here. Tennant in particular was opposed by Sir Patrick Stewart as Claudius and was considered one of the most intelligent Hamlet's in years. We can see a lot of different variations of the same play by tweaking the setting, era, and costuming. There are so many great scenes that you can find on Youtube, but I highly recommend giving a shot to Andrew Scott and Jessica Brown Findlay acting out the Get Thee to a Nunnery scene with Ophelia

Aside from the Lion King, there's a 90s version of Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke (which I remember not liking that much), Laurence Olivier playing Hamlet in the 40s and theabsolutely opulent and visually stunning version of Hamlet from the brain of Kenneth Branagh. I was even told about a Hamlet from the 90s with Mel Gibson starring which I'm admittedly very curious about. AND a new version coming out next month with Sir Ian McKellan with a twisty modern take on the play.

Not exactly Hamlet, but definitely connected to it, there's also the delightful play by Tom Stoppard called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead that's well worth a watch.

We're more lax on our movie versions of posts, so if you've seen any of these versions or have something of your own you want to talk about, comment down below!

Here are some other prompts (courtesy of my lovely co-mod u/epiphanyshearld :

• Have you been to see a performance live or have watched a movie that you really think captures the essence of the play?

• Do you have a favourite type of adaptation that you think suits the play best?

• What actors/actresses do you think played Hamlet well? Conversely, was there anyone who ruined an adaptation for you with a poor performance?

• For those of you who like modern books as well, have you read any Hamlet inspired works/retellings that you want to tell us about?

• Are there any adaptations that you have watched that you wouldn’t recommend?

Next week we will be discussing Acts 1 to 2.1 of our April play: King Lear