This UK premiere was the most moving of all the shows I’ve seen this year.
The company of actors from Peru with Down’s syndrome were superb in presenting a Hamlet like no other. They were all Hamlet in one way or another grappling with the famous question, “Ser o no ser”. Indeed, the overriding theme was the problem of existence – and then, the struggle to lead independent lives.
The adaptation is full of personal anecdotes from the cast made up of eight actors reinventing the classic tragedy into a celebratory production which includes rap and dance.
Director and writer Chela De Ferrari’s interpretation emphasises the importance of community, especially in the face of a world that continually sets out to exclude them.
There was one sequence where the players sang and stomped their defiance against the stereotypes and expectation of accepting others control over them which had me in flowing tears.
Magnificent, inspired, and brilliant.
https://www.eif.co.uk/events/hamlet
