About the Play
In Shakespeare’s most enduring and influential play, the Danish prince Hamlet mourns his father’s death and his mother’s subsequent remarriage. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and reveals that he was murdered, the prince feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and plots revenge on his uncle-turned-stepfather Claudius, who is now the king of Denmark. What follows is an epic and sweeping tragedy, as only the Bard can deliver.
2024 Season ProgramAbout the Playwright
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor. He was born on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a successful local businessman and his mother was the daughter of a landowner. Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
He wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.