On Friday 4 September, 45 students from Years 7-13 attended the Globe Theatre’s touring production of Hamlet. The Globe Theatre has toured Hong Kong in the past, and a group of students watched their most recent touring production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, last year.
However, this production of Hamlet was a very special performance as the company is touring every country in the world. Hong Kong was country number 129 and the home country of the actress who played Ophelia. This pared down version at 2 hours and 45 minutes (the original version is over 4 hours and thirty minutes) was an excellent introduction to the tragedy of Hamlet for the students and for many of them this was their first ever experience of watching Shakespeare actors perform his words live on the stage. In keeping with the traditions of Renaissance theatre, there was lots of singing and dancing with music played on traditional Elizabethan instruments. Overall, it was a rich cultural experience for all the students and the English Department looks forward to more visits from the Globe Theatre in the future.