I must be cruel only to be kind;
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.
A nation is in mourning, and political upheaval seems inevitable. When a young student is called home from university, they find their world changed beyond recognition, and the heaviest of duties lain at their feet.
TRBTS presents Shakespeare’s universal study of loss, rebellion, revenge and madness in a brand new site-sympathetic production. In such uncertain times, who can be trusted? What is to be believed?
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain…
Directed by Soph Jacobs-Wyburn, produced by Alex Duarte-Davies. This production was also professionally filmed and edited. Full company details below, please get in touch with any questions.
Second Player – Amelia Rodriques-Dawkins
Priest – Amelie Gorringe
Gertrude – Anna Roberts
Laertes – Avery Trotter
Voltemand – Austin McClelland-Jenkins
Fortinbras – Elijah Watkins
Rosencrantz – Elise Elston-Thompson
Guildenstern – Eve Williams
Francisco/Sailor – Ewan Hipperson
Osrick – Fabian Butler
Captain – Gaia Eynon
Messenger/Second Clown – Genevieve Murray
First Clown/Gravedigger – Harry Bradley
Hamlet – Inez Solomon-Gardner
Reynaldo – Lucas Kover Wolf
Marcellus – Matilda Broadbridge
First Player – Remy Benson
Ophelia – Rosa De Korte
Polonius – Ryan Crabbe
Horatio – Arthur Morris
Bernardo – Thomas Kelsh
Claudius/Ghost – Yves Morris
Assistant Stage Managers
Antony Nightingale
Annie Chambers
Juliette Marinelli
Julia Irvine
Matthew Smith
Rocco Roth
Wardrobe Assistants & Dressers
Isabella Marinelli
Lizzie Skellett
Sephy Priston
Director’s Notes
To say that staging Hamlet is a challenge is, at best, an understatement and at worst, a naïve remark that fails to capture just how provocative the Great Dane can be. It is always a privilege to work with our talented Theatre School members on productions, but watching them scale such heights has been nothing short of dizzying. But then comes the weight of expectation. With a lineage so long and so star laden, how can this story still be fresh, still exciting? How is it still relevant after over four hundred years? Well, at its heart, it is a surprisingly simple tale. A young person arrives home from university to grieve a lost parent. But when they do, they find that absolutely everything has changed. How can we choose to do the right thing if we have absolutely no idea what that is, or who to trust to help us?
This Elsinore is a world not too far away from ours. It is peeking into the future that we are now living, and we can see its shadows creeping across the borders between. So too, these experiences are not too far away from ours – we have all experienced indecision, distrust, fear. We have all loved, and most of us, lost. Even if we have not become parents ourselves, we are someone’s child. There is universality here. These incredible young people have claimed this story for all of us.
I love this play. I love this story. I love it’s certainty in its own grey areas, and how it revels in its own uncertainty. It offers up no clean and concrete answers for the many complex and labyrinthine dilemmas that wind through the action, and it poses more questions than we can possibly keep up with as we watch fate unwind. Perhaps this is why it stays with us all a little, no matter how fleeting our contact with it. The image of the Prince of Denmark staring into the face of Yorick’s skull is inescapable after all. Hamlet’s attempted journey to accept the inevitable, and relinquish the attempt to control the uncontrollable, is surely just our own.
Hamlet Creative Team
Producer — Alex Duarte-Davies
Director — Sophie Jacobs-Wyburn
Assistant Director — Jacob Ruddle
Designer — Sam Wilde
Costume Supervisor — Anna Dixon
Production Manager — Lisa Hall
Stage Manager — Kay Hudson
Composer and Musical Director — Ellie Showering
Fight Choreography and Fencing Teacher — Mike Cleary
Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School aims to offer an inclusive program of training and workshops, that cover all disciplines of theatre-making and are open to any young person aged 5 to 25 years old.
Each week we run over 17 hours of sessions – working directly with young theatre-makers to develop their skills, mentor their artistic growth and support their creative drives. This includes our Backstage program, unique in the South West, offering a dedicated weekly space to learn technical and design led disciplines, as well as the opportunity to apply their skill-set to Theatre School productions wherever possible.
Our curriculum offers structured development of valuable skill-sets, which could be applied across a wide range of life experiences. We also promote an ethos of respect, daring, and self-identity throughout, fostering a sense of community and strong roots to support their growing creativity.
We aim to empower young artists and theatre makers to explore their own unique, capable, and persuasive voices. But we also hope to witness the development of life-long friendships, communities of peers offering support, and building enduring memories.
Bath Theatre Academy offers cutting edge Performing & Production Arts training based in The Egg Theatre. We work with industry professionals and experts to teach the course and the results are extraordinary.
Our Course centres around practically exploring all aspects of making theatre; over two years, students on our level 3 course learn about everything from lighting design to stage combat, producing to acting for screen.
Each year, we present a season of work in May; what better way to find out what we do, than to see our shows?
Come along to see Bath Theatre Academy in action in their home theatre, or find information about joining the course below –
Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET.
Theatre Royal Bath is a registered charity no. 277723
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