Depicting Collective Support on the Theatrical Stage: The Case of We Are Hamlet

Abstract

The article describes a unique theatre project recently implemented by an international team of directors, actors, and stage designers representing the Bremer Shakespeare Company, the Prague Shakespeare Company and the Ukrainian Vasyl’ko Theatre in Odesa. The project’s product is a production titled We Are Hamlet that was performed in several European cities in 2023. Directed by Guy Roberts, We Are Hamlet examines, through the text of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, what defines and makes possible the existence of human beings, despite their social, political, economic, educational, and even ecological differences. The discussed performance can be considered a conceptual statement, one made with the help of traditional artistic means but conveying meanings that acquire particular significance today. The production is analysed with recourse to the impact of media-broadcast images of the collective international support for Ukraine as a victim of the Russian aggression. The article looks into the artistic process itself, focusing on how the very idea of collective support is realised on stage through the so-called chorus atomisation.