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Mad About Hamlet

Stage Group has had the privilege of performing some of the world’s best-known plays including The Crucible, Waiting for Godot, The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, King Lear and more. After 3 years of masked performances, we are thrilled to bring you an unmasked performance of Hamlet at the Hong Kong Arts Centre from April 27th to 29th 2023. 

Everybody has heard of Hamlet - most people can probably identify him as “that guy who thinks too much and holds a skull” or characterise the play as “the one where everybody dies at the end.” However, Hamlet is also considered a significant, serious piece of literature with ever growing literary criticism, reinterpretations, homages, references and parodies.  

In our adaptation of Hamlet, we have decided to strip down the tragedy to its core and let the characters breathe and be recognised as fallible, strange and relatable humans. We also wanted to play with the play, taking big creative swings with our interpretation. 

The play has been adapted for modern audiences with an abridged script. While there are still joys to be had with performances of the full text, our aim is to make the play accessible to audiences and actors alike. 

Our boldest conceit - Hamlet is to be performed by six actors at the same time, moving as one entity. We consider Hamlet a character who literally contains multitudes. This gave us room to be creative and expressive in our interpretation of this iconic character.  


Emphasis has been placed on the power dynamics between characters; the complicated, toxic relationships and cycle of abuse and neglect. This is most evident in Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia and in the parent/child relationships in the play. 

We have also tapped into the vein of rich, black humour, to help punctuate the tension and reflect the messy, jittery madness of the characters.  

It is with glee that we take apart a beloved classic and put it back together. We greatly look forward to presenting our idiosyncratic interpretation of Hamlet and paint a familiar story with unconventional colours. 

Tickets are available now on TicketFlap.com!

Location: Hong Kong

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