Hamlet's Lunacy

Back in the days of Hamlet the seven celestial spheres and their planets still revolved around the earth and the murder on the king –the Minister of God- made nature revolt. But just a few years later Shakespeare laughs off the influence of the stars and planets in King Lear and refers to it as ‘excellent foppery of the world’. In 1641, thirty-five years later, the king, once the representative of God, is sent to the gallows. The shift from a medieval to a pre-modern world view defines both Hamlet and his zeitgeist and for us it also contains the essence of Hamlet’s dilemma: How to act honourably (ethically) in a conflicting world? We want to make that dilemma, that transition, ‘palpable’ by means of immersion: a juxtaposition of specific scenes from Hamlet and scientific and historical facts in combination with 3D-representations, Virtual Reality and theatrical elements with live enactments involving the audience. The acts of Thomas Dudkiewicz are directly transposed to the movements of the avatars Hamlet, Ophelia and Claudius. By means of rotating projection screens everyone gets to see both the virtual as the real world. Hamlet is hungry for revenge, but wants ‘insight’ into everything. Hamlet’s Lunacy draws parallels between Hamlet’s conflict and actual conflicts throughout the world. Whom and what are we supposed to believe in a world where lies go viral in a matter of seconds? As with Shakespeare’s Hamlet: doing nothing is also a way of assuming a position. Do you take up arms or stand down?