HAMLET
HAMLET
William Shakespeare
In a new translation by Marius von Mayenburg
A joint production of the Hellenic Festival in Athens and the Avignon Festival.
Performers:
CLAUDIUS — Urs Jucker
HAMLET — Lars Eidinger
GERTRUDE, OPHELIA — Judith Rosmair
POLONIUS, OSRICK — Robert Bayer
HORATION, GUILDENSTERN — Sebastian Schwarz
LAERTES, ROSENCRANTZ — Stefan Stern
Directed by Thomas Ostermeier
Designed by Jan Pappelbaum
Costumes designed by Nina Wetzel
Music by Nils Ostendorf
Dramaturg — Marius von Mayenburg
Video by Sebastien Dupouey
Lighting designed by Erich Schneider
Premiere at the Hellenic Festival — July 7, 2008
Premiere at the Avignon Festival — July 16, 2008
Premiere at the Schaubuhne in Berlin — September 17, 2008
The Schaubuhne of Berlin
The Schaubühne was founded in 1962 as a private theatre with a politically and socially committed repertoire under the name The Schaubühne at Halleschen Ufer. Of the original four founding members, Jürgen Schitthelm continues to be a managing director of the Schaubühne. Since 1991, Dr. Friedrich Barner has also been a member of the directorate.
Well-known directors and actors in the German theatre, including Peter Stein, Klaus Michael Grueber, Luc Bondy, Robert Wilson, Andrea Breth, Bruno Ganz, Edith Clever, Jutta Lampe, have led the house to worldwide fame. The theatre staged its first plays at the Halleschen Ufer in Kreuzberg (in today's HAU 2) and, from 1981, in the Mendelsohn-built building on Lehniner Platz. Under Thomas Ostermeier, Jens Hillje, Sasha Waltz and Jochen Sandig, who led the Schaubühne artistically from 1999 to 2004, the theatre evolved into an internationally engaged theatre for contemporary speech and dance. Today, under Ostermeier's artistic direction, the stage is the only major dramatic theatre in West Berlin. The repertoire includes both contemporary texts as well as those of the past.
Thomas Ostermeier
Thomas Ostermeier was born in 1968 in Soltau. From 1992 to 1996 he studied directing at the Ernst Busch school in Berlin. In 1990-91 he acted in the'Faust-Project' by Einar Schleef at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. In 1993-94 he was assistant director and actor with Manfred Karge in Weimar and at the Berliner Ensemble. In 1995 he directed'The Stranger' by Alexander Blok in accordance with Meyerhold's system of biomechanics. In 1996 he directed'Faust/Artaud Research' at the bat-Studiotheater in Berlin. From 1996-99 Ostermeier was Artistic Director of the Baracke at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin. Productions there included'Fat Men in Skirts' by Nicky Silver (1996),'Knives in Hens' by David Harrower (1997 awarded with Friedrich-Luft-Prize), Brecht's'Man is Man (1997),'Suzuki' by Alexei Shipenko (1997),'Shopping and Fucking' by Mark Ravenhill (1998),'Below the Belt' by Richard Dresser (1998),'The Blue Bird' by Maeterlinck (1999). In 1998 the Baracke was nominated for the honor of Theatre of the Year. In 1998 and 1999 Ostermeier directed'Disco Pigs' by Enda Walsh and'Fire Face' by Marius von Mayenburg at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg. His final production at the Baracke was'Suzuki II' by Alexei Shipenko.
Since September 1999 Ostermeier has been the resident director and member of the Artistic Directorate of the Schaubühne. He has also directed several productions at the Münchner Kammerspiele. In November 2002 Ostermeier was appointed artiste associé for the Avignon Festival by the festival's new artistic director, Vincent Baudriller.
