Hamlet 1996

Performed by the LSC at The Lawn, Lincoln

29th February - 9th March 1996

Director: Karen Harrison

Assistant Director: Paul Corbett

Music: Nikki-Kate Heyes and Rob Smith

Cast

Ghost of Hamlet, Lately King of Denmark: Neil Perkins

Claudius, His brother, Now King of Denmark: Colin Brimblecombe

Gertrude, Queen of Denmark: Jo Smith

Hamlet, son the late King Hamlet and Gertrude: Simon Clark

Polonius, counsellor to the King: Rob Smith

Laertes, son of Polonius: Dave Clayton

Ophelia, Daughter of Polonius: Jo Clark

Horatio: Richard Jones

Rosencrantz: John Armitage

Guildenstern: Simon Hollingworth

Barnardo: Dave Clayton

Marcellus: Paul Corbett

A Whore: Aggi Gunstone

Gravedigger: Neil Perkins

English Reporters: Aggi Gunstone, Karen Harrison

Players: Neil Perkins, Holly Walker, Helen Tholen and Shona Judge

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway: John Amritage

A Captain: Simon Hollingworth

Hamlet, King of Denmark dies. His son, Hamlet returns to Elsinore for the funeral. Within a month, Hamlet's widowed mother, Gertrude, marries his uncle Claudius, the late king's brother. The ghost of the dead king is seen on the battlements of Elsinore. When the ghost confirms his fears that his uncle was involved in his father's death, Hamlet plans his revenge and spirals into despair that pushes him to the edge of sanity...

"When one can no longer go on pretending to be something one is not, when guilt becomes overwhelming, when one is forced to face up to a truth that one has long denied, when one can no longer live up to the perceived expectations of others, when the mind and body can no longer continue to cope with simply being unhappy, Shakespeare called it madness. Today we call it stress."

Karen Harrison, Director.

"I was playing Ophelia and the hardest part of this challenging role was playing a convincing corpse (although fellow actor swould claim that I would seem to have no trouble acting as though I were dead most of the time!). At the appropriate moment I was carried through the audience on a stretcher and deposited in a rather undignified manner in a 'grave' consisting of bean bags wrapped in black bin liners. I had to lie still for what seemed like hours while Hamlet and Laertes jumped about round me, trying not to swear when they inevitably trod on me, and then suffered the indignity of having mountains of cold peat shovelled on me by Neil Perkins, the gravedigger. This would not have been so bad if a) Neil had not taken such obvious delight in his task, and b) if Neil had a better aim with the soil! One night he managed to ensure that my ears, eyes and mouth were full of peat, and the only way I could stop myself from panicking was to silently sing every Beatles song I knew in my head until the end of the scene. Needless to say, when I found Neil backstage afterwards I made him suffer almost as much as I had, and from that point onwards he made sure to deposit the peat only from waist down!"

Jo Clark, 'Ophelia'.

"Lincoln is so lucky to have so much talent willing to tackle Shakespeare's toughtest challenge and bring it to life."

JAT, Lincolnshire Echo March 1996