"Elsinore is a palace of whispering galleries and false walls, a looking-glass world. A kingdom where every word is reported and every secret agent is shadowed by a double.
Prince Hamlet - a head full of questions and shrouded in the blues, is not suited to the role he has to play.
Horatio, his true friend and guardian angel – an innocent, untainted by the corruption of this court.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - false friends – tip-toeing through the corridors on deceitful missions – never allowing us to see their true selves - the Kings pets.
King Claudius - the most proficient showman, but under his red gloves he has the bloody hands of a murderer.
Queen Gertrude, bewitched in the showman's shadow - her identity forever in doubt.
Gertrude:Ophelia, - all women are one through Hamlet's distorted vision.
Laertes, wholly embracing the part he has to play and Polonius, voyeur and eavesdropper. Eyes and ears.
All are dusty players, mere echoes of reality, conjured to perform questions in a long-forgotten enchanted space." |
