Hamlet, Sweet Prince is a queer, abridged, contemporary telling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet through the lens of patriarchal violence. Using Shakespeare’s original language, director Alex Jodi Verge reimagines Hamlet in a modern-day office setting.
After the sudden death of Denmark’s CEO, his brother Claudius has taken charge of Denmark and married the late CEO’s wife. When the ghost of the late CEO appears and tells his son Hamlet to avenge him, Hamlet is faced with the requirement to cause further violence. Grappling with this weight sends Hamlet spiraling down a path that leads toward death and destruction for all who step foot into Denmark’s office.
In Hamlet, Sweet Prince, Hamlet’s fatal flaw is not indecision, it’s the perpetuation of violence. Hamlet is a character torn between their feelings–grief, fear, confusion, passion–and the violence that is repeatedly thrust upon them by the patriarchy they’re trapped in.
