Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing, end them?
Gertrude: Wife. Mother. Queen of Denmark.
Fewer Shakespearean characters have caused as much uncertainty as Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude: a side-lined female in a canonical story; a shadowy icon of mid-life sexuality; an intelligent, fearless woman whose power was consistently undermined by the men around her.
In the 400 years since Hamlet was written, what – if anything – has changed?
Welcome to purgatory. Where everything we know about Gertrude is torn apart, reimagined and reclaimed by one woman and a jazz drummer in a funny and fierce act of revolution. There’ll be tea. There’ll be a visit from Joan of Arc. There’ll be a live drum score.
Fusing original narrative and Shakespearian verse with bold physicality and thunderous sound, award-winning performance storyteller Debs Newbold places Shakespeare’s iconic text under a 21st century lens to offer an alternative perspective; putting a woman front and centre in this notorious story of male revenge.
“Gertrude would have loved the chance to tell her story. In Hamlet, Shakespeare hardly lets her speak. Well now, she’ll have me. And a drum kit. So she can make as much noise as she likes.”
RUNNING TIMES
70 mins, no interval
AGE RECOMMENDATION
12+
