This Is Hamlet

This is Hamlet can be watched in its entirety as an entertaining commentary and analysis of Shakespeare’s tragedy; it can also be used in sections as a teaching tool in your classroom.  The full-length film presents a TV-style interview show with Hamlet himself, as well as other characters from the play. An actual production of Hamlet takes place at the same time as the interview show, and the characters go back and forth between three spaces: the on-stage production of the play, where you’ll see full scenes from Shakespeare’s play, the off-stage“wings” of the theater, where characters are interviewed by the “on-the-scene” reporter, Sarah Siddons, as they enter and exit the stage; and finally, the TV studio, where characters discuss their experiences and motivations with the fictional interview host, Ralph Holinshed.

Each full scene from the play is followed up by a conversation in the TV studio, where Hamlet and others discuss what just took place in the scene, both in terms of plot and thematics.  The discussion offers initial insights into the characters of the play, and reveals some of the implications of the events as they transpire.  The film provides an ideal framework from which to launch your own classroom discussions with your students, and offers many possibilities for exercises and activities for your students to do together, in or outside the classroom.

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