Hamlet and the Tragic World of Elsinore

The setting for William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' can be viewed and interpreted in many ways. In this short film, director Richard Eyre, designer Vicki Mortimer and author Colin Bell discuss some of the ways the space in which 'Hamlet' exists has been brought to life on the stage of the National Theatre.

As I listen to this discussion, I get the visual of Elsinore as four walls and the feeling of it all closing in ever so gradually on Hamlet.  More than just a haunting experience, it must've been a maddening one as well.  He loses his beloved father, he witnesses his mother's overly quick remarriage to his uncle, frightfully he encounters his beloved father, he suspects his uncle to be the murderer.  The more I think about it, the more I see Shakespeare layering his play with sheets after sheets of tragedy. So, without a doubt, the director and his or her crew must manifest such layering via stage design, lighting and props.