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In Christiane Jatahy’s unconventional interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic, Hamlet wakes up, after four centuries of being the quintessence of male melancholy, as a grown woman looking to get things straight with her past.

This new Hamlet finds herself confronted with violent power structures, without forgetting the acts of violence she committed herself in the past, and feels a deep desire to radically overthrow them. She is surrounded by ghosts from the past – some of them female as well: mother Gertrude and fiancée Ophelia – urging Hamlet to face her past and ‘relive it’. Only by acknowledging this past, the revolution – both intimate and public – will be possible.

The Brazilian associate artist Jatahy established her name as a writer and theatre maker with an approach that often involves taking a classic text from the European literary canon as a basis. Holding these texts against the backdrop of our times, and of her own cultural background, she dramatically changes the dynamic of stories we all know. She has developed a powerful theatrical language combining an almost documentary-like cinematography with top-notch acting, revealing the complexity of characters and situations. Confronting audiovisuals with live performance, she challenges our conventional way of perceiving things, triggering questions of what is ‘real’ and what is ‘staged’; of who decides what, how, and in what time frame, we actually see.

Hamlet might be the most awe-inspiring piece ever written; it was waiting for me by my beside ever since I started in theatre’
- Christiane Jatahy

  • Christiane Jatahy

    © Leo Aversa

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

  • Hamlet

    © Simon Gosselin

credits

based on William Shakespeare direction Christiane Jatahy adaptation Christiane Jatahy set Christiane Jatahy cast Isabel Abreu, Tom Adjibi, Servane Ducorps, Clotilde Hesme, David Houri, Tonan Quito, Matthieu Sampeur cast film Loïc Corbery, Jérémy Lopez, Cedric Eeckhout, Jorge Lorca, Julie Duclos, Kes Bakker, Aurélie Barrin, Fernanda Barth, Azelyne Cartigny, Léo Grimard, Jamsy, Martin Jodra, Laurence Kélépikis, Yannick Lingat, Yannick Morzelle, Océane Peillon, Juliette Poissonnier, Maëlle Puéchoultres, Yara Qtaish, Alix Riemer, Andrea Romano, Gabriel Touzelin voice overs Zakariya Gouran, Jauris Casanova, David Clavel artistic collaboration, set design and lighting Thomas Walgrave director of photography, camera Paulo Camacho costume design Fauve Ryckebusch video system development Julio Parente original music Vitor Araújo sound design Pedro Vituri collaboration technical set development Marcelo Lipiani dramaturgical consultant Marcia Tiburi, Christophe Triau trainee direction Maëlle Puéchoultres trainee lighting & set design Kes Bakker costumes assistent Delphine Capossela direction assistant Laurence Kélépikis administration Claudia Petagna production director and tour manager Henrique Mariano production Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in participation with Cie Vértice – Axis productions coproduction Coproduction Wiener Festwochen (Vienna),, Les Nuits de Fourvière - Festival international de la Métropole de Lyon, Holland Festival, Le Quartz - Scène nationale de Brest, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand scène nationale, deSingel with the support of Cercle de l'Odéon thanks to La Ferme du Buisson - scène nationale de Noisiel The Vértice company is supported by Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Île-de-France

This performance is made possible by