HAMLET

Abrahamse & Meyer Production in association with Artscape present
The Tragedy of
HAMLET
Prince of Denmark, as performed by the crew, aboard the Red Dragon off the east-coast of South Africa, 1608
by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Creative Team:
Adaptation: Fred Abrahamse & Marcel Meyer
Set Design & Direction: Fred Abrahamse
Costume Design: Marcel Meyer
Original Score: Charl-Johan Lingenfelder
Lighting Design: Faheem Bardien
Cast:
Sailor 1/Francisco/Hamlet/Ghost/Lucianus/Sailor: Marcel Meyer
Sailor 2/ King Claudius / Player King: Michael Richard
Sailor 3/Bernardo/Queen Gertrude/Reynaldo/Player Queen: Tristan De Beer
Sailor 4/Horatio/Polonius: Dean Balie
Sailor 5/Laertes/Marcellus/Rosencrantz/First Player: Jeremy Richard
Sailor 6/Ophelia/Guildenstern/Grave-Digger/Osric: Matthew Baldwin
This performance was recorded at the Artscape Theatre on 11 April 2018.
About the Production:
This production of Shakespeare's HAMLET originally premiered at the 2015 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa and went on to play sell out seasons at Artscape, Theatre on the Bay, Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg, the International Shakespeare Festival in Craiova, Romania as well as The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival in the USA.
The Abrahamse & Meyer production takes its inspiration from one of the earliest recorded performances of Hamlet during Shakespeare’s life-time.
In 1608, off the East Coast of South Africa, the crew of the East India Ship, Red Dragon performed Hamlet aboard their ship. In his log, on 31 March 1608, Captain Keeling noted: “I invited Captain Hawkins to a fish dinner, and had Hamlet acted aboard me, which I permit to keep my people from idleness and unlawful games or sleep.”
Hamlet abounds with images of theatre, acting, actors and this production re-imagines Shakespeare most iconic play within the context of the historic performance aboard The Red Dragon as a play within a play within a play utilizing a cast of only 6 actors playing 6 Jacobean sailors who, in turn, play all the parts in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Local press hailed the production as a “tour de force” and “a masterpiece” while the critic for The Huffington Post stated “I thought I had seen a decent Hamlet before, but Abrahamse & Meyer Production’s Hamlet made my other viewing experience seem amateur by comparison. The excellent performances, innovative interpretations of the text, and bold design choices all came together to create a transcendent production that I will not soon forget.”
About the Company:
Abrahamse & Meyer Productions in one of South Africa’s only independent classical theatre companies. Founded in 2006 by Fred Abrahamse & Marcel Meyer the company has gained international acclaim for their innovative productions of plays by William Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams. The company has been nominated for and won over 40 national and international theatre awards.
Click here to download a PDF of the souvenir programme:
drive.google.c...

[@striverfor7628]

8:39 Act 1 Scene 2 13:20 O that this too too solid flesh 16:10 Enter Horatio, Marcellus and Barnardo 19:41 Act 1 Scene 3 21:58 Enter Polonius 24:07 Exit Laertes 26:20 Act 1 Scene 4 28:22 Act 1 Scene 5 32:16 Exit Ghost 34:30 line 92 36:15 line 190 36:37 Act 2 Scene 1 40:17 Ophelia 42:35 Act 2 Scene 2, line 42 "Thou still hast been the father of good news." 43:08 line 1 44:44 Exit Ros and Guild, then line 88 48:35 Act 3 Scene 1, line 29 49:20 To be or not to be 53:00 Ophelia and Hamlet 56:19 Exit Hamlet 58:21 Act 2 Scene 2, line 163 1:01:40 Enter Ros and Guild 1:07:39 line 350 1:08:00 line 363 1:13:34 Now I am alone 1:18:05 Act 3 Scene 1 1:19:11 line 169, I have in quick determination Thus set it down 1:20:10 Act 3 Scene 2, line 85, How fares our cousin Hamlet? 1:30:01 Act 3 Scene 3 1:33:36 Now might I do it pat 1:35:25 Act 3 Scene 4 1:39:48 Enter Ghost 1:45:30 Act 4 Scene 1 1:47:43 Act 4 Scene 2 1:48:46 Act 4 Scene 3 1:51:45 Act 4 Scene 5 2:01:26 Act 4 Scene 6 2:02:26 Act 4 Scene 7 2:06:53 Act 5 Scene 1 2:14:27 Act 5 Scene 2 2:15:45 Enter Osric 2:18:10 Exit Osric 2:19:16 The scene with the fight 2:21:08 The fight begins 2:24:03 Hamlet kills Claudius 2:25:49 Hamlet dead

[@petercrossley2956]

Bravo. A brilliant success on all counts. Wonderful to see a young, vibrant, enthusiastic -- and exceptionally talented -- company take on the daunting task of a rediscovery of this classic which, in older, more jaded hands, threatens often to become just so much ho-hum. Here we have fresh views, enlightened script adaptation, knowlegable direction and wildly creative design. Well done, gentlemen, well done.

[@EmdonVideo]

Proud to have created this video for Artscape and the amazing Abrahamse and Meyer Productions ☺

[@LVXMagick]

Shout out to all my techies in all black in the back!! And to you for this video!

[@corybanter]

WOW. That is certainly one of the most unusual and most intriguing Hamlet productions I've ever seen. I really enjoyed that.

[@k1tsk1]

saw you in sweeney todd!! (twice actually) and your performance was amazing :D i just had to see your other work and i'm not disappointed at all

[@matanschwartz8807]

I loved it! It was incredible and extremely useful for my AP Lit class

[@AutismThespian1993]

This was an amazing production. Love the whole stage set because the water adds a supernatural vibe to the story. Thanks for bringing this to the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown along with Sweet Bird of Youth. Finally happy to relive this one.

[@booksandsass5324]

i really like this hamlet :)

[@mkam1904]

For me, Shakespeare dialogue can be hard to follow. This was a great production. I really enjoyed it.

[@dragonqueen7574]

Fantastic play!😃❤👍

[@josephearls4111]

This framing device is based, incredibly, on an actual copy of the play, circa 1610, performed by sailors to make the voyage more pleasant for passengers. The idea that the play had a already saturated the culture so deeply is amazing to me.

[@fazeelahaffejee6952]

Thanks for this generous gesture to support our learners and teachers during this lockdown period. Would you consider sharing the production of My Children My Africa?

[@aabho]

Hi, AP Eng IV 👋

[@franciskimanzi6999]

what are costumes used here, and the setting

[@abrahamseandmeyerproductio8074]

Hi Francis. This production is inspired by one of the earliest recorded performances of HAMLET outside of Africa. There is documentation that HAMLET (and RICHARD II) were performed by the crew of the East India Ship, RED DRAGON of the coast of Africa in 1607/8. There is a more detailed description in the about section. There is also a link which will allow you to download the programme of the production with detailed essays etc. Hope this helps