HAMLET
The Wardrobe Theatre
May 2022
Directors' Festival, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Production Designer: Fiona McKeon
Director: Yuxuan Liu
Photography: Craig Fuller
This was a project with the Production and Acting students of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Abridged and directed by Yuxuan Liu, Hamlet was reduced to a 75min script for a 5 person company
This focused production of Hamlet utilised physical theatre alongside the abridged traditional text to further explore Hamlet's descent into madness. It used an abstract web of ties to puppet and bind Hamlet to the space, using minimal costume changes and props to assist the audience to navigate the world as Hamlet's mind devolved.
"The set and costumes of this production, which are both brilliantly designed and realised. Upstage, a cat’s cradle of red rope is set against a dusty black backdrop. The actors are uniformly dressed in muted brown clothes with truly beautiful weighted trousers, and jackets are put on to denote characters.
The result is a subtle, attractive set that gives a sense of darkness and excitement, and is an excellent canvas on which to paint this original, if flawed, production of Hamlet."
Molly Pipe, B24/7