“To be, or not to be, — that is the question”
Shakespeare’s Hamlet has had more revamps than Katie Price has had boyfriends over the years, in both film and theatre – and now it is being given a new modern twist in South West London.
The play is taken out of its classic setting in Denmark and relocated to a prison in Liverpool where the Danish Prince is incarcerated, after his father is murdered.
The production is directed by South West London’s very own Zoe Ford and will be the penultimate show before Riverside Studios closes for two year refurbishment and extension.
Speaking about why she chose Riverside Studios, Zoe said: “When I lived in Chiswick I used to come here to see the shows and I remember the first play I came to see here was Mary Rose.
“I came into the space they were performing in and it was just so magical. It’s such a big theatre space and it’s so beautiful. It’s quite stark but in a good way – it’s just a black box. So you can just put whatever creative vision you have into the space.”
Adam Lawrence stars as Hamlet, and has just finished filming the new series of BBC’s ‘Peaky Blinders’ alongside Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Helen McCrory.
“Alas! poor Yorick. I knew him…”
South West Londoner was given backstage access while the cast and crew were making their final preparations ready for the show’s opening night – although they were very careful not to give too much away about what the audience should expect.
Darcy Vanhinsbergh, who plays Laertes, lives in Tooting Bec, and trained at local drama school, The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. He said that it had been great working with the cast and crew and praised Zoe for how well she has done putting together this production.
“One of the cast said Zoe’s a poker and prodder as a director,” he said.
“She kind of feeds in and pokes and prods without actually feeding it to you or blatantly going ‘no that’s wrong do it like this’. It’s more like ‘try it this way’.
“She has a roundabout way to get you to what she actually wants you to do, and you discover it yourself.”
This new and exciting production promises to take a fresh, bold and exhilarating look at one of literature’s most celebrated plays.
“I must be cruel, only to be kind: Thus bad begins and worse remains behind”
While auditioning people for the play Zoe found out that one of men had done some time in a youth detention centre and used him as some of the inspiration for this production.
Zoe said: “One of the actors themselves was in a Young Offenders Unit when he was younger.
“It’s been amazing working with him and he told us a lot about prison life – it’s very dirty and it’s never quiet.
“My favourite thing he told us is that everybody had a television in their jail cells, and everyone watches East Enders, and at that time of night all you could hear was the dum dum dum dum der der derrr.”
“As well as being an incredible actor he’s brought a lot of lightness to the concept.”
Scottish born Zoe has also received a nomination from Off Westend Nomination for Best Director.
“The rest is silence”
Also working on the play is stage manager Sinead Pounder, from Tooting Bec, who said that it’s been a joy working with the cast and crew and that she’s faced many challenges along the way.
“The main challenge I’ve had in Hamlet is the weapons. It’s all about the old school weapons which we have to make.
“We have had to use things like toothbrushes, as obviously they can’t bring weapons in because they’re inmates.”
The play runs until the 22 June at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, so don’t miss out and get your tickets today from www.riversidestudios.co.uk/cgi-bin/page.pl?p=home01
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