Globe Education Online
Resources for people passionate about learning and engaging with Shakespeare's plays
Hamlet (2000)
directed by Giles Block
I have heard That guilty creatures sitting at a play Have, by the very cunning of the scene, Been struck so to the soul that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions.
2.2.523-527
Prince Hamlet has not succeeded his father as King of Denmark. The throne is occupied by his uncle Claudius, who has promptly married Hamlet's mother upon her husband's death. At midnight, the old King's ghost appears to his son on the battlements of Elsinore to tell him of the manner of his death - poisoned by his own brother - and to demand revenge.
No play tells us more about Shakespeare's views on acting and the role of theatre in society as a way of mirroring the truth. Packed with references to the Globe, 'Heavens', the groundlings and even the performance of Julius Caesar in the previous year, Shakespeare seems to have ben inspired by his new theatre when he first staged Hamlet in 1600.
Creative Team
Master of Play: Giles Block
Master of Clothing and Properties: Jenny Tiramani
Master of Music: Claire van Kampen
Cast
Tim Preece - Ghost/Player King
Tim Woodward - Claudius
Joanna McCallum - Gertrude
Mark Rylance - Hamlet
James Hayes - Polonius
Mark Lockyer - Laertes
Penny Layden - Ophelia
Jan Knightley - Reynaldo/Gravedigger's Companion/Player
Geoffrey Beevers - Horatio
David Phelan - Rosencrantz
Harry Gostelow - Guildenstern/Osric
Chris Tranchell - Francisco/Cornelius/A Priest/Captain
Roger Gartland - Barnado/Gravedigger/Player
Tim Block - Marcellus/A Sailor
Leader Hawkins - Voltemand
Dragan Micanovic - Fortinbras
Karen Tomlin - Player Queen
Discover the Play
• Discover the actors' experiences making the production in Adopt An Actor:
- Tim Woodward as Claudius
- Joanna McCallum as Gertrude
- Harry Gostelow as Guildenstern
- Geoffrey Beevers as Horatio
- Penny Layden as Ophelia
