The aesthetic of Shakespearean acting in the UK is constantly in tension between the work of the country’s major producers: the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, and recently Kenneth Branagh’s company in the West End, and other interpretations, mainly from overseas, which question the acting values of actor training. Using the 1603 quarto of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ as a live action exploration, I take a group of American actors trained in the UK drama school in traditions of Shakespearean performance, to fully explore alternative possibilities of text in a public performance. My question in staging the production is to ask if a coherent performance aesthetic can be maintained through this post dramatic post-modern approach, and if the actors training can sustain this shift in performance experience.

I will be posting video, photographs, and soundtracks shortly.