Concrete Playground

To be or not to be? This is a question that every theatre company should ask of themselves whenever attempting to stage a classic text, for no quicker are old words rendered obsolete than through boring, unimaginative parroting. Brave is the company, Berlin's world-famous Schaubühne in this case, that takes its production of Hamlet to an international audience.

Performed in a German translation by master playwright Marius Von Mayenburg, this Hamlet demands your attention. Six performers recreate the antics of over twenty characters, ghoulishly inhabiting a stage covered in dirt and overlaid with grainy, live video feeds. Director Thomas Ostermeier has unearthed the rotten heart of a Denmark not unlike the spasmodic lurching of our own, often tragic, political landscape. Prepare to fight for a ticket!


Image by Arno Declair