HamletScenen

German Play, Globe's Lear, Branagh's Hamlet
On Tap for Festival at Hamlet's Elsinore

Experience magical nights in Elsinore in August, when Kronborg Castle hosts the Shakespeare Festival featuring productions by Staatsschauspiel Dresden and Shakespeare's Globe as well as a screening of Kenneth Branagh's film in the courtyard of Hamlet's Castle.

From Shakespeare's Globe in London comes the touring production of King Lear with a small troupe of actors performing on a traditional booth stage inspired by Elizabethan paintings and etchings. This is a rare opportunity to experience the freshness and simplicity of the theater tour as it was in Shakespeare's day. Directed by Bill Buckhurst, Joseph Marcell (best known as Geoffrey in the hit U.S. sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) will take on the role of Lear; Rawiri Paratene, star of the Oscar-nominated film Whale Rider, will play Gloucester. Performances are scheduled Aug. 1–3 at 20.00 (8 p.m.) in English with Danish text.

The castle's courtyard will be alive with tension, hatred, and revenge when the German theater company Staatsschauspiel Dresden presents its touring production of Der Kaufmann Von Venedig, a grandiose staging featuring 12 charming, power-drunk, sensitive, provocative, loving, greedy, and vulnerable men. The young director, Tilmann Köhler, who belongs among the generation after Thomas Ostermeier, Michael Thalheimer, and Nicolas Stemann, directs a group of men who take the stage with a masterful balance of humor and tragedy. Performances are scheduled for Aug. 7–9 at 20.00 (8 p.m.) in German with Danish text.

The Oscar-nominated film adaptation of Hamlet by Kenneth Branagh concludes the festival on August 10 at 21.00 (9 p.m), with the entire 4:20 film being screened (including intermission) in English without subtitles.

For tickets, visit www.billetten.dk or call +45 7020 2096.

Throughout the summer, visitors to Kronborg Castle can follow Hamlet's footsteps with regularly scheduled Hamlet tours. The castle is open June through August from 10–17.30 (10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.), and from September through May from 11–16 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) Tuesday–Sunday. For more information on the castle, visit www.kronborg.dk or call +45 4921 3078.

April 17, 2013

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