March

Hamlet at the Movies

Gina Hausknecht, John William King Professor of Literature and Creative Writing 
March 4, 11, 25

Hamlet is among William Shakespeare’s most enduring plays, enjoying a rich afterlife at the cinema as well as on the stage. In this three-week forum, John William King Professor of Literature and Creative Writing Gina Hausknecht will explore why filmmakers keep returning to this centuries-old play. Using a blend of film clips and lecture, the forum will provide an overview of the play itself and survey the range of cinematic styles in which Hamlet has been reimagined, with emphasis on six particularly distinctive films. In week one, we will get acquainted with the play and learn about its long history on film. During weeks two and three, we will spend time with the films, beginning with Laurence Olivier’s influential 1948 classic and Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 version. We will then compare Hamlet as played by Mel Gibson in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 adaptation and by Ethan Hawke in Michael Almereyda’s 2000 modern update. The forum will conclude by touching on two film adaptations that use the play as a stepping-off point for meditations on the nature of reality, theatre and love: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) and Hamnet (2025). Along the way, the series will consider what each director emphasized, how audience sympathies are differently evoked and how each generation creates a Hamlet that serves and reflects its own era.

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