it literally ultimately depends on what version of this story the director wants to tell this time. want to show a man lashing out and hurting others and crumbling as the catastrophic consequences of his own actions spiral his life out of control? make hamlet 30.
want to show a teenager helpless in a world of adults, powerless under his guardians but with unimaginable burden on him, trying and failing to cope with his grief as the ground spins out from under his feet? make hamlet 19.
want to show the complexity of gertrude's relationship with her son, and have her quiet complicity finally catch up to her in the last guilt-ridden effort to save her son? have her drink the poison knowingly.
want to emphasize the tragedy of the story and show the consequences of the depths claudius sank to? have her drink the poison by accident.
want to portray elsinore with an insular, suffocating atmosphere in which the rot and madness festers? cut fortinbras out.
want to emphasize the collateral damage of elsinore's deterioration on a national and international level, and leave a current of militaristic tension beneath? leave fortinbras in!
hamlet is too much of a complex and multi-layered play for ANYTHING in this show to be definitive!!! hamlet doesn't HAVE to be any age! fortinbras doesn't HAVE to be present or not present!! it's fair game as long as it makes for a good story in this iteration of it! nothing in hamlet HAS to be anything universally and i'm sick of posts claiming that it does
amandla
tangentwithtanner
titsay
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
baratheonpilled
