The Last Hamlet

What if we staged the very last Hamlet – literally – after which Shakespeare’s play would no longer be played, making room for new stories for new times? Such is the project of Ben Duke and his company Lost Dog for one of the most performed plays in the history of theatre. For the British director and choreographer, Hamlet bears a heavy responsibility for the ills of our time: he’s depressed, violent, and guilty of procrastination. After learning that his play is about to be cancelled, Hamlet gets up on stage one last time. He’s prepared new material in the hope of convincing us to grant him a reprieve. Ben Duke turns the English playwright’s character into a starting point, driven by the conviction that every story is made to be subverted.

자신의 작품이 취소되었다는 소식을 들은 햄릿은 무대 위로 올라와, 유예해 달라고 설득하기 시작한다. 

Interview with Ben Duke

With Miguel Altunaga, Ben Duke & Hannah Shepherd
With a special contribution to the Avignon Festival by Anna B Savage

Conceived and Directed by Ben Duke
Set & Costume Design Soutra Gilmour
Lighting Design Jackie Shemesh
Sound Design Jethro Cooke
Video Design Will Duke
Dramaturgy and French traduction for surtitles Karthika Naïr
Creative Consultant Raquel Meseguer Zafe
Creative Collaborators Sarah Calver, Luigi Nardone, Jamie Wood
Production Management Ed Borgnis
Stage Manager Andrea Scrimshaw
Technical Stage Manager Rachel Glover
Costume Supervisor Anna Josephs
Production Lighting Daniel Harvey
Surtitles manager Katharina Bader
Lighting Programmer Nadene Wheatley
Producing Team Daisy Drury, Emma Evelyn, Gabrielle Veyssiere
Production and diffusion Daisy Drury, Emma Evelyn, Gabrielle Veyssiere (Europe), Elsie Management (North America), Performance Infinity (China)
With thanks to Jaclyn Fulton, Claire Verlet, Camilla Greenwell, Paul Blakemore, Nelson Autefault, Nora Houguenade, Ian Penny at Bristol Old Vic Scenic Workshop (Scenic Construction); Tom Crosley-Thorne (Scenic Paint), Alan Roberts (Structural Engineering), Andrew Patrick at Macfarlane Manufacturing (Corrugated Board Consultation), Warrington Fire, Element (Fire Retardancy Consultation); Richard Chappell at Freight 44 (Production Transport), Rachael Canning (Mask Design), Jagprops (Mask Maker); Suzanne Hogg (Costume Maker), Nicola Killeen Texties (Dyeing and Breaking Down), Fionnuala O’Conor, Mike and Caroline Howes and the technicians, crew and staff of the Théâtre des Abbesses (Paris)

Production Lost Dog 
Co-production Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Sadler’s Wells (Londres), Festival d’Avignon, Romaeuropa (Rome) 
Support Arts Council England, The Linbury Trust, Pavillon Noir (Aix-en-Provence), Warwick Arts Centre, Dance East (Ipswich), South East Dance (Brighton) and for the 80th Festival d'Avignon : British Council

Performances in partnership with France Médias Monde