The last scene of Hamlet begins! Hamlet and Horatio are catching up, much to tell... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A lovely image of Hamlet (Toby Stephens) & Horatio (glorious Forbes Masson, in perfect scholar's black) in the 2004 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet dir. Michael Boyd des. Tom Piper

Claudius back in control? One more scene... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Rewinding to note that this is Ophelia's last 'appearance'; she's mostly side-lined. But Milton paid attention (probably; the @freelibrary.bsky.social F) & here's beautiful Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia in 1969.

Hamlet: alright alright I'm going - but I'm not finished... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Zeffirelli allows Hamlet (Mel Gibson) a moment to look more sympathetic, laying a flower on Ophelia's corpse, but in general she disappears in this scene; it's all about the unhappy, angry young men.

Hamlet behaving SO badly (for a change) www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Hamlet announcing his arrival at Ophelia's funeral in Olivier's 1948 film. (Olivier had shown Ophelia (Jean Simmons) in the water à la Millais; here are some images & a bonus 'filming of', with Olivier adjusting her hair.)

Hamlet: I loved Ophelia THE MOST www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Two images from the crazy but kind of awesome 2025 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, dir. Rupert Goold: Nancy Carroll as Gertrude, and Hamlet (Luke Thallon) being restrained. (A beautifully muted palette: des. Es Devlin 📸Marc Brenner)

Out today!💀 (advance access, open access) my little note entitled 'Hamlet’s Garbage', Notes & Queries par excellence, and a small preview of the sorts of things that I explore in my forthcoming Textile Shakespeare: academic.oup.com/nq/article/d...

Hamlet & Laertes, grappling www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Gertrude (Glen Close) & Horatio (Stephen Dillane) restrain Hamlet (Mel Gibson) in the 1990 film of Hamlet, dir. Zeffirelli. It's a well-attended funeral; the wall of black is effective (& the bier hasn't yet been placed in the grave).

Hamlet, back & making it all about him for a change www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Definitely IN the grave: Alex Jennings as Hamlet (L), Will Houston as Laertes (R), Ophelia (Derbhle Crotty) in his arms. Gertrude (Diana Quick) looks on. (A danger of the grave looking like bath time...)

Laertes jumps into Ophelia's grave... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Laertes (Edward Bennett) clutches Ophelia (Mariah Gale) in the film of the 2008 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet. I like the awkward, appalled bystanders, especially the uniforms (they read as police) & Ophelia's flash of white.

Gertrude, of Ophelia: I thought I was going to be your mother-in-law... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A more surreal version of Ophelia's death: Pippa Nixon in the 2013 @the-rsc.bsky.social production, dir. David Farr

It's OPHELIA's funeral... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A striking black and white tableau, not especially aiming for naturalism: Marty Cruickshank as Gertrude, Ben Meyjes as Laertes in the 2001 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, dir. Steven Pimlott

Priest to Laertes: sorry, that's your lot www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Jim Hooper as the priest (in fact here a bishop?) in the 2009 of Hamlet, dir. Gregory Doran. An immaculate image of playing it by the book and no further...

Funeral procession: whose?? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... One last Hamlet'n'skull (where does he then put it??) (Basil Langton @the-rsc.bsky.social 1940);Glenn Close as Gertrude in the 1990 Zeffirelli film; Horatio (Stephen Dillane) and Hamlet (Mel Gibson😬) in the same film

Caesar's DEAD TOO, says Hamlet💀 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Damian Lewis, Open Air Theatre (1994); Jonathan Slinger @the-rsc.bsky.social (2013); Maxine Peake (2014) (the grave was a heap of old clothes); Cush Jumbo, Young Vic (2021)

Hamlet: Alexander the Great is DIRT now www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Three Hamlets, musing on the skull: Christopher Eccleston at the West Yorkshire Playhouse (2002); Alan Cumming at the Donmar (1993); Ben Kingsley, RSC (1975)

ALAS POOR YORICK www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Two Hamlets costumed as if wearing his sea-gown still (or at least the early modern equivalent of an anorak) Mark Rylance at the Globe (2000); Laurence Olivier (1948). And Donald Wolfit (1936), not even pretending to be outside or onstage.

Gravedigger: new skull who dis?💀 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A series of Hamlets in beanies/bobble hats and anoraks/jumpers/hoodies: Ian McKellen (1971), David Tennant (2008), Rory Kinnear (2010), Tom Hiddleston (2017). Many more images of Hamlet and new skull friend to come...

Thoughts on LEATHER www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Hamlet (Paapa Essiedu) & Gravedigger (Ewart James Walters) @the-rsc.bsky.social 2016 & some C16 shoes, found @corpuscambridge.bsky.social. (Not Marlowe's. His father was a shoemaker, Shakespeare's a glover, printer Richard Field's a tanner.)

It's #WorldSuicidePreventionDay; it was really important to me when I wrote a new introduction to the New Cambridge Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet that I included a page of 'Advice and Support', which I hope might be useful for students, teachers, actors, readers... Here it is

More chat with the gravedigger💀 www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Shared understanding between Gravedigger (Jonathan Livingstone) & Hamlet (Cush Jumbo) in the 2021 Young Vic production; near-naked, vulnerable Roger Rees, watched by concerned Horatio (Nicholas Farrell) @the-rsc.bsky.social 1984.

And you've been a gravedigger how long? asks Hamlet www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Hamlet (Vaneshran Arumugam) gets as far as sharing a drink with the gravedigger (Royston Stoffels) in the production dir. Janet Suzman, Baxter Theatre Company / @the-rsc.bsky.social 2006.

WHOSE GRAVE?? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Hamlet (David Tennant) questioning the Gravedigger (Mark Hadfield) watched by Horatio (Peter de Jersey) in the film of the 2008 @the-rsc.bsky.social production dir. Greg Doran. (A full study of Hamlet's anoraks/beanies will follow later this week.)

Who owns a grave? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Lars Eidinger as Hamlet in Thomas Ostermeier’s Berlin Schaubühne production (2011) - and Milton's(?) annotation in the @freelibrary.bsky.social Folio, identifying the Gravedigger's song, by Thomas Lord Vaux, on fol. 72 of Tottel's Miscellany.

ANOTHER skull: lawyer? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Slightly later, but Hamlet-with-skull is the number 1 Hamlet photo: here's fabulous Sam West @the-rsc.bsky.social 2001, with Horatio (John Dougall) & the gravediggers (Alan David, Conor Moloney); dir. Steven Pimlott, des. Alison Chitty

More skulls, more musing www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Ever so slightly later in the scene, but I love this beautifully composed image (📸Reg Wilson), and Horatio (Donald Burton) standing back. David Warner as Hamlet, David Waller as the Gravedigger, @the-rsc.bsky.social dir. Peter Hall, 1965

Hamlet: that skull was ALIVE! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Anton Lesser as the Gravedigger (& Ghost/Player) in the 2025 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, dir. Rupert Goold. The skull was just THERE because by this stage on the Titanic (!) there was no point wondering how, grave, ship, digging...

I'm looking forward to seeing Born with Teeth, & very much like the look of Joanna Scotcher's design here. But (*niche footwear observation*) it's fascinating to see the use of boots not shoes as the default with 'Elizabethan' dress, because they 'read' as historically correct for a modern audience.

Hamlet's back in action! and the gravedigger is singing a jolly song www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Ewart James Walters as the Gravedigger in the 2016/18 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, dir. Simon Godwin. He also played the Ghost. (Skulls have not yet appeared in the scene, but are about to...)

Gravedigger punchline! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... I'm contemplating a new project (🙄) about the dramaturgy of S's nameless men, esp in comparison with other writers. Have long loved Mahood's work on minor characters & want to develop. Here's Mark Hadfield again, with sandwich, in 2009.

Gallows humour🙄from the gravediggers www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Greg Hicks as the Gravedigger in the 2004 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, dir. Michael Boyd des. Tom Piper. He also played the Ghost and the Player King; the double/triple is not that unusual but GH was extraordinary.

Gravediggers, class warriors www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... The gravediggers are clowns, according to the earliest stage directions. But there's much to be gained from playing them straight, NOT casting comics. Jonathan Livingstone, Young Vic, 2001; Billy Crystal in the 1996 Branagh film.

Gravediggers, continued... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... The gravedigger (Mark Hadfield) holds forth to his sidekick (Sam Alexander) here imagined as a council officer signing off on a potentially illegal burial, in the film of @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet 2009, dir Greg Doran. Note sandwich.

TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE has a COVER👀 (this is a late C16 embroidered coif - never in fact assembled - in the V&A. All the crazy scale with added big cats, like an acid trip As You Like It. I love that it is a bit stained and messy.) global.oup.com/academic/pro...

time for the GRAVEDIGGERS www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Bob Peck as the Gravedigger (his mate uncredited) @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet, 1975, dir. Buzz Goodbody, The Other Place. All they need is a hole in the ground, but it's an audacious move, out of the castle, into colloquial, comic prose

Laertes: [sobs] Claudius: what a NUISANCE www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... 324 posts in and that's the end of Hamlet Act 4👀 Three RSC Gertrudes reconsidering their life choices as Laertes weeps and Claudius grumbles: Elizabeth Sellars (1961), Sian Thomas (2004), Penny Downie (2008)

I loved this when I saw it at the V&A: Five Truths, Katie Mitchell's short films of Ophelia, made with Michelle Terry in 2011, in the style of Brook, Brecht, Stanislavski, Artaud, Grotowski www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Ophelia, DROWNED www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Of *course* Milton liked this bit. Millais is probably compulsory here (modelled by Elizabeth Siddal 1851-2; she posed for 4 months in a bath heated with lamps underneath & caught a bad cold. I do find the Pre Raphs INTENSELY ANNOYING.)

Gertrude: there is a willow ... look, PRETTY FLOWERS! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Gertrude's speech can be set up by Ophelia's earlier scene, if she has armfuls of plants rather than polite posies, is muddy, bloody. Here, Mariah Gale in the film of the 2008 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet.

Gertrude: more bad news... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Branagh's 1996 film added a sequence showing that Kate Winslet's Ophelia, incarcerated and ill-treated (in the guise of therapy), had managed to find and conceal a key to her prison, enabling her escape.

Claudius: POISON as a backup! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Elsinore needs to be a place where drinks are often seen to be in hand & associated with Claudius (perhaps easier in modern dress?) Here, Greg Hicks as Claudius in 2013, & Patrick Stewart in 2008, both @the-rsc.bsky.social

Laertes: I have deadly poison! www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... A century ago, almost to the day: Barry Jackson's modern dress Hamlet, Kingsway Theatre, August 2025. Here, three images of Ophelia, mad (Muriel Hewitt); her black mourning is a striking contrast to the Victorian nightie tradition.

The Estate @nationaltheatre.org.uk is a messy, good play with a great design (Chloe Lamford) & a jaw-droppingly brilliant performance by Adeel Akhtar. Have always loved his work on screen but hope he'll do MUCH more theatre; would love to see him in eg Miller; Claudius NOW & Lear in a decade or so.

Laertes and Claudius, planning to fight dirty... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... For Friday, this beautiful image of Michael Redgrave as Hamlet @the-rsc.bsky.social 1958 📸Angus McBean, of course. (Redgrave was 50. 5 years later he played Claudius in the NT's first show at the Old Vic.)

Claudius: this is how my cunning plan starts www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Claudius has played Laertes immaculately. Now it's just a matter of sorting out the details of the plot (or so they think). Claudius (Clive Wood, R) & Laertes (Gideon Turner) @the-rsc.bsky.social 2004 dir Michael Boyd

Laertes: WOULD CUT HAMLET'S THROAT yeah www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... The audience know more than C about H's indecision. AND for all the talk of rapiers, Laertes is up for murder. Hamlet (Toby Stephens) failing to kill Claudius (Clive Wood) @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet 2004 dir Michael Boyd

Index is drafted, and this afternoon I will check every entry😱, from actors to Ziegler, via every single one of Shakespeare's works, and including such sequences as tailors as dishonest slang as stylists as thin See also botchers tailor’s cushion tailor’s goose tailor’s ‘hell’

Claudius, obscure, Machiavellian... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Another bit that is so very readily cut, but, Claudius, SUCH a politician, so psychologically astute. Clarence Smith as Claudius, Boom Tihngang as Laertes in the 2018 revival of Simon Godwin's @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet.

Claudius to Laertes: did you love your dad? www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Edward Bennett as Laertes & Patrick Stewart as Claudius in the film of the 2008 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet. So much of this scene is readily cut, but Claudius's manipulation of Laertes is extraordinary. Iago 1.0.

Claudius: I hear you're AMAZING with your rapier... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Poor Laertes, lonely, grief-stricken, oddly unworldly, & painstakingly manipulated by Claudius. He's praised for his skill with the rapier, but he is to be the weapon. Terence Morgan in the 1948 Olivier Hamlet.

Claudius: some thoughts on dressage🏇... www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo... Paul Hilton as Claudius in the 2025 @the-rsc.bsky.social Hamlet Hail to the Thief. Clearly not this scene, but this weird little speech is such an easy cut; it's a great image of Claudius not in control for once.