director's notebook

escribí esto para el curso sobre hamlet

In this production the scene seems to be set in some dark place that could be anywhere. The characters are standing still as they engage in conversation, without looking at each other: their gaze directed towards a horizon from which they expect something to appear (as people wait for the bus to arrive at the bus stop). As for the clothes, they look modern. Hamlet is dressed with a leather jacket and Horacio is wearing a coat and scarf. Even the Ghost is wearing a “modern” jacket. The only thing that looks anachronistic is the Ghost’s crown which looks very humble, like made of tin.

The Ghost is on ground level, which strikes my attention because he is placed within “touching” distance from Hamlet. Unlike other productions where the Ghost appears to be more distant or out of Hamlet’s reach (like in Laurence Olivier 1948) or even floating in the air as in Teatro San Martín’s production (Buenos Aires Argentina 2019) where the Ghost is balancing above Hamlet’s head, far from him and his companions, standing on some sort of table that supports him.

On the contrary, in this example, the Ghost is very near Hamlet and one has the sensation that he can almost touch him if he stretches his arm. At the same time, the Ghost's eyes look lost, as if the King could not clearly see that the person who is talking to him is his son. King Hamlet does not really look like a Ghost, except for the smoke or fog that surrounds him and the fact that we already know that he is dead.

The fact that he is so tangible and so close makes us think that he is very real: he looks as if he were not actually dead because he is waiting for the truth to be revealed and the revenge to be taken in order for him to finally rest in peace.

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Examples mentioned above:

Buenos Aires 2019, Teatro San Martín, Rubén Szuchmacher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lqCpqiMoUs

England, 1948, Laurence Olivier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6T1wKqW5F8