NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� He’s on screen, onstage, on tour, online and in song. 鈥淗amlet鈥� 鈥� William Shakespeare’s masterpiece about a moody Danish prince 鈥� seems to be having a moment.
A National Theatre production has landed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music starring Hiran Abeysekera. There鈥檚 a in London鈥檚 South Asian community starring Riz Ahmed. at 88, is delighting fans on TikTok with some of Prince Hamlet鈥檚 鈥淭o be, or not to be鈥� soliloquy. The movie 鈥淗amnet鈥� 鈥� the fictionalized story of loss that inspired the creation of 鈥淗amlet鈥� 鈥� Taylor Swift’s 鈥� that’s Hamlet’s ex 鈥� went to No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. is taking her one-person production of the play on a worldwide tour.
Four hundred years on, 鈥淗amlet鈥� 鈥� whose seemingly quite modern antihero is endlessly mulling over what to do after his uncle murdered his father and married his mother 鈥� is still giving.
Want even more? There鈥檚 even a 鈥淗amnet鈥� play, adapted from and the Royal Shakespeare Company is taking it on a U.K. tour. will stage a 鈥淗amlet鈥� this August in the Berkshires. There鈥檚 a Canadian production of 鈥淗amlet, Sweet Prince,鈥� using a queer, contemporary lens. The Acting Company in New York will have a modern-verse version led by a woman, and the Peruvian theater company Teatro La Plaza recently presented a version off-Broadway starring eight Spanish-speaking actors with Down syndrome.
Harvard’s Jeffrey R. Wilson, a Shakespeare scholar, says 鈥淗amlet鈥� is perfect for our era, when the crush of bad news has triggered constant, existential check-ins, like: 鈥淗ey, how鈥檚 everyone hanging in there?鈥�
鈥淧eople are exhausted from the onslaught of awfulness in the world,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd 鈥楬amlet鈥� gives audiences both permission to 鈥榞o there鈥� to explore those emotions and a tool kit of ideas to help us process angst.鈥�
A neurodiverse 鈥楬amlet鈥�
The plethora of works are markedly vibrant and fresh, from the Hamlet in Brooklyn who wears a beanie to the one who enjoys Bollywood-style dances in London.
鈥淕reat plays survive not because they remain untouched, but because they can continue to be transformed,鈥� says director and playwright Chela De Ferrari, from Teatro La Plaza, whose neurodiverse 鈥淗amlet鈥� is a visceral and urgent call from those often excluded from cultural narratives.
鈥淲orking with actors with Down syndrome and cognitive disabilities brought me back to something essential in 鈥楬amlet鈥�: that beneath its philosophical brilliance there is an exposed human being asking, in one way or another, how to exist in a world that keeps misreading him,鈥� she said.
In one of the show鈥檚 most potent moments, an actor attempts to imitate delivery of Hamlet鈥檚 鈥淭o be, or not to be鈥� soliloquy with an image of the famous actor projected on a screen. It takes on a new urgency when spoken by someone whose very right to be in public or artistic spaces is often questioned.
鈥淚 like to imagine a kind of continuity between our actors and all the great actors who have carried the play before. I believe Shakespeare lives in all of them,鈥� says De Ferrari.
Shakespeare in a BMW
On school trips to see Shakespeare plays, filmmaker Aneil Karia always felt like they were an arm’s length away.
鈥淚 felt like I was primarily watching an intellectual experience unfold and I had to use my brain to keep up with the plot and the language and everything like that,鈥� he says.
He teamed up with Ahmed and screenwriter Michael Lesslie for a stripped-down, modern-day retelling of 鈥淗amlet鈥� that leans into the title character’s unease at being complicit in a corrupt business system.
鈥淭hat feels so pertinent to the moment we鈥檙e in politically and everything. It feels like the question a lot of people are asking,鈥� says Karia. 鈥淚t feels like these stories are actually a conversation through time itself.鈥�
Hamlet here parties at a neon-drenched nightclub and delivers his soliloquy while hurtling down rain-slicked London streets in a BMW, taking his hands off the wheel as a truck approaches head-on. To be, or not to be, indeed.
鈥淭he best best-case scenario here is that it鈥檚 opening up Shakespeare to audiences who didn鈥檛 think it was for them, or who struggled with it previously,鈥� says Karia, whose film starts streaming Tuesday. 鈥淭his is a big call, but I feel like Shakespeare would approve. I feel his whole thing was like, 鈥楾ake this stuff and do your thing.鈥欌��
A more clownish prince
The 鈥淗amlet鈥� in Brooklyn leans into the humor of the play for one good reason: The guy playing Hamlet is naturally funny.
Abeysekera is manic and mischievous as he pulls out the play’s physical humor, addressing the audience directly in his soliloquies, sometimes sitting at the edge of the stage and making eye contact.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very self-aware play. It sort of really knows that it鈥檚 a play, if that makes any kind of sense,鈥� says director Robert Hastie. 鈥淗amlet knows he鈥檚 in a play called 鈥楬amlet,鈥� like Deadpool knows he is in a film called 鈥楧eadpool.鈥欌��
Abeysekera tackles his 鈥淭o be, or not to be鈥� speech as an errant thought, a wisp of an idea, instead of the traditional foot-planted, actor-y, big-thing-coming approach.
鈥淩ather than thinking, 鈥極h, here鈥檚 the big speech coming up and that’s freaking me out,鈥� I started thinking, 鈥業t鈥檚 such a thought that most of us kind of have,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淪ometimes, in front of the mirror, we just see ourselves and go, 鈥極of. Today鈥檚 a tough day.鈥欌��
Hastie believes 鈥淗amlet鈥� is one of those works that reveals something new all the time. Grounded in the human condition, it speaks fresh things to each audience and we discover new things that have always been there.
鈥淥ne of the reasons I think why we鈥檙e still talking about Shakespeare, and this play in particular, is that whenever those words fuse with a new actor or a new group of actors, it becomes a different play,鈥� he says. 鈥淢aybe that鈥檚 a good working definition of a classic.鈥�
An extremely online bard
Caitlin Cardile is doing her best to keep the 400-year-old playwright alive in She and her three-person troupe Mad Spirits Theatre Company are on virtually every social media platform spreading the word.
鈥淲e wanted to bring Shakespeare to a modern audience and make it understandable,鈥� Cardile says. 鈥淲e want people to feel more comfortable with Shakespeare and not think that it鈥檚 old English and such a hard thing to understand.鈥�
They post live readings and commentary of the plays on YouTube but it’s on Instagram and TikTok where the true coolness starts. They find trending audio snippets 鈥� of everything from dialogue on 鈥淭he Office鈥� to a Lady Gaga song 鈥� and assign a Shakespeare character to say them.
So Kitty Forman’s popular line 鈥淚 may have been a little irrational today鈥� from 鈥淭hat ’70s Show鈥� is lipsynced by an actor playing Ophelia. A section of dialogue between Scar and Simba from 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� is put in the mouths of actors playing Claudius and Hamlet.
鈥淲e鈥檙e like, 鈥楬ey, wouldn鈥檛 it be funny if we took these silly trending sounds that everybody鈥檚 doing and what if we put them to Shakespeare characters?’鈥� says Cardile. 鈥淭his has ended up being so much fun.鈥�
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