Hamlet

Synopsis: A Brazilian version of Hamlet directed by Marcelo Marchioro. The play explores contemporary political and ideological issues and, coincidentally, premièred on 20th August 1992, one month before the impeachment of Fernando Collor de Mello, the first president elected directly by the people after the end of the Brazilian military government. To portray the nation’s state of political degradation, the director and set designer created a muddy set with numerous blood pools, as well as pieces of junk scattered around. The director positioned big, original Petrobrás oil barrels, painted green, white and blue (the colours of the Brazilian flag), to suggest the parapets of the castle and provide a link between the issues in the appropriated classic text and the local, prevailing circumstances. The dark and grotesque atmosphere created discomfort among the spectators who were invited to see the implications of the comparison between Elsinore and Brazil - "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark" which was understood to be Brazil.
Language: Portuguese (Brazil)
Country: Brazil
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 1992
Duration: 150 mins

General: The production of Hamlet was part of a larger project i conceived by the Brazilian director Marcelo Marchioro, in Curitiba PR, entitled "Shakespeare in the Park", which aimed at popularising Shakespeare for Brazilian audiences.
History: The production premiered 20 August 1992.
Stills: The large auditorium situated in São Lourenço Park, was re-modeled for the production, with the creation of a re-mediated Elizabethan stage.
Textual information: Celina Alvetti is dramaturg. Translation: Anna Amélia Carneiro de Mendonça

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