Hamlet

Claudius, King of Denmark

SETTING

In Denmark, in and around the castle of Elsinore, home of the late King Hamlet and his surviving heirs. 

Shortly before the opera begins, King Hamlet has died under questionable circumstances.

Act I

scene one

The scene opens as the court at Elsinore is celebrating the marriage of King Claudius to Gertrude, widow of the late King Hamlet. Prince Hamlet, son of Gertrude and King Hamlet, remains stunned by his mother’s hasty re-marriage, merely two months after his father’s death. Ophélie, daughter of the lord chamberlain, Polonius, is in love with Prince Hamlet, but is concerned that he may leave the court due to his uneasiness with his mother’s actions. Feeling ignored by Hamlet, Ophélie begs him for an affirmation of his love for her. Ophélie’s brother Laërte must depart on court business, so he entrusts her care to Hamlet.

scene two

Hamlet joins his friends Horatio and Marcellus outside the castle walls. They warn the prince they have seen a ghost they believe to be Hamlet’s father. Shortly the ghost appears, charging Hamlet with avenging his father’s murder, revealing that he was poisoned by his brother Claudius. The ghost urges immediate action, but warns his son not to harm his mother, as her vengeance must be left to heaven. As the ghost vanishes, Hamlet swears to obey the command.

Act II

scene one

Ophélie is in distress, as the prince is shunning her. Hamlet momentarily appears, but withdraws, and she ponders the briefness of her lover’s vows. Gertrude enters, seeking to learn from Ophélie what is happening with Hamlet, and discovers Ophélie in tears. She confides to Gertrude that she believes the prince no longer loves her and requests permission to leave the court. Gertrude pleads with her to stay, hoping she can cure the prince of his melancholy. King Claudius then appears, and the queen asks Ophélie to withdraw. The king wonders at Hamlet’s strange behavior, and Gertrude suspects he may have learned the truth of their crime. Claudius, however, prefers to think that Hamlet is going mad. Hamlet enters and announces he has arranged a performance for the court that evening. The king and queen, seeking to humor him, agree to attend. Hamlet sings the praises of wine’s ability to dispel sadness and depression.

scene two

The play, The Murder of Gonzago, is presented. Hamlet narrates the story of King Gonzago, who is lured by the queen to a lonely spot, where her lover administers a lethal dose of poison to the king. At the moment in the play when the murderer places the king’s crown on his own head, Claudius nearly betrays himself. Hamlet boldly accuses the King of murder and the court erupts in pandemonium.

Act III

Seeking a connection with his father in the castle’s mausoleum, Hamlet is angry with himself for not having killed Claudius outright. However, he ponders the possibility of taking his own life in order to escape the responsibility his father’s ghost has burdened him with, if only suicide were not forbidden, and a person’s fate after death could be known. Hamlet hides when Claudius enters and begins praying to the spirit of his dead brother to appease God. The king then calls for Polonius, and Hamlet learns that Ophélie’s father was an accomplice in the murder. Gertrude and Ophélie enter, and Hamlet’s mother urges her son to marry. However he again rejects his fiancée and violently turns on his mother. In a rage, Hamlet reveals to Gertrude that he knows of the murder and Gertrude fears for her life. The ghost appears to Hamlet, reminding him that his mother must be spared. The queen, not seeing the specter, believes Hamlet to be mad. Hamlet exhorts her to repent and pray.

Act IV

Act V

In the cemetery two gravediggers are preparing for a burial ceremony. Hamlet asks the men whose grave it is, but they do not know. Laërte enters, having returned from abroad after learning of his sister’s madness. A funeral procession arrives, and it is only now that Hamlet learns of Ophélie’s death. Hamlet finally avenges his father’s death. 

– synopsis by

   Thaddeus Strassberger

Adapting Shakespeare will always be a challenge, and Ambroise Thomas made many changes when taking the play Hamlet and creating the opera. Thaddeus Strassberger offers his interpretation of Thomas’ adaptation, and explains how the visual landscape puts us inside Hamlet’s state of mind. 

What is the biggest difference between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Thomas’ operatic adaptation?

In Thomas’ adaptation, though the text is pared down and characters streamlined in the process of transforming the original masterpiece into an opera, the composer is able to evoke a palpable atmosphere in a just a few bars of music. Multiple lines of text being sung at the same time creates an emotional texture that words alone simply cannot.

In studying both works in preparation for this production, I'm fascinated by the ways in which Shakespeare and Thomas' Hamlets illuminate each other. In going back to the source text, I read it with new insights that are actually inspired by some of Thomas’ ideas. The focus is usually on the disappointments of trying to adapt Shakespeare, but for me it has simply deepened my appreciation for both.

You’ve described the setting for your production as "Denmark, fallen behind the ‘Iron Curtain.’ " How did you arrive at this concept?

Before designing the physical production, I concentrate on discovering the core conflict within Hamlet. This production centers on Hamlet’s – and our own – inability to know clearly who is a"liberal" and who is a "conservative" and what that brings to bear on the world. Was Hamlet’s father a totalitarian monster who had to be brought down at any cost, or rather, a visionary thoughtfully leading his people to a future filled with prosperity and peace? Is his successor Claudius a liberator or a tyrannical war criminal? The question resounds loudly from the very first scene.

Hamlet doesn’t see his glass as either half-full or half-empty – but rather frozen, stagnant and undrinkable. Everything that he encounters is so fraught with doubt and anxiety that action becomes impossible. The Denmark that we see through his eyes – cold, unrelenting, moribund – is filled with scheming characters who incessantly demand love, political loyalty and filial devotion. Trapped not only by the forces around him but also by his own ambivalent reaction to them, he becomes the eye of an increasingly violent storm icily swirling around him.

How do you transform these abstract political and psychological ideas into a physical production?

After being immersed in the soul of the piece, the seed of the idea usually arrives as a gut instinct rather than having to seek it out. The Cold War era encapsulates a lot of these feelings – and the images are recent enough to have a visceral impact. Even though the world has undergone massive changes in the past twenty-odd years, the era when its ultimate outcome was far from certain is still engraved in our living memories. We know from history books that medieval times were rife with tyranny and violence, but the memories of Cold War era “duck and cover” exercises are direct physical and emotional connections to our collective history. The images that we evoke in this production aren’t that of a documentary of an actual time and place, but rather an emotional landscape of memories and associations. Every decision for material, structure, silhouette, fabric and so forth then grows out of the original idea.  

How do the sets and costumes play out these feelings and associations?

The story is set "in and around the castle of Elsinore." In this production, the plinth of a major building is still visible, but the larger structure has already been destroyed, wiped clear away – the very foundation of the king’s seat of power has been unsettled. Also, the conceit that perhaps everyone is "only playing their part" in an elaborate psychodrama and that their true motives and identities may not be genuine is strengthened by the suggestion that they are living their lives in the burned out shell of a once-opulent theater. Cult-like devotion to and the veneration of deceased leaders inspired my decision to set Act III in King Hamlet’s mausoleum.

In Mary Traylor’s costume designs, Queen Gertrude’s indifference to the suffering of her people is betrayed by her extravagant fashion choices that are clearly oblivious and impervious to the gray coldness of their surroundings. While their world is cut off in so many ways from the modern world, Ophélie clearly has been influenced by foreign fashions, but perhaps the styles have arrived decades too late. 

What have you enjoyed most about creating this production?

I like the fact that the design and concept don’t do all the work. As with a piece of jewelry, these elements provide only the setting, while the true gems of the evening are the performers onstage and in the pit. The massive choral, orchestral and solo performances required by this impressive score have room to expand in. The color and the sparkle of the human energy onstage is only intensified by the brutality of the background against which they play; the spirit, bile and blood which flow through these characters cannot ultimately be repressed.

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