Hamlet (2009 film)

Hamlet
DVD cover
Genre	Tragedy
Written by	William Shakespeare
Directed by	Gregory Doran
Starring	David Tennant Patrick Stewart
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Running time	180 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	26 December 2009 (2009-12-26)

Hamlet is a 2009 television film adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2008 modern-dress stage production of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, aired on BBC Two on 26 December 2009. It was broadcast by PBS' Great Performances in the United States on 28 April 2010.

Directed by Gregory Doran, it features the original stage cast of David Tennant in the title role of Prince Hamlet, Patrick Stewart as both King Claudius and the ghost of Hamlet's father, Penny Downie as Queen Gertrude, Mariah Gale as Ophelia, Edward Bennett as Laertes, Oliver Ford Davies as Polonius, and Peter de Jersey as Horatio.

Production

The production was filmed with a single-camera setup, using the pioneering RED One camera technology.

Cast

• Prince Hamlet — David Tennant
• King Claudius / King Hamlet — Patrick Stewart
• Queen Gertrude — Penny Downie
• Ophelia — Mariah Gale
• Horatio — Peter de Jersey
• Laertes — Edward Bennett
• Polonius — Oliver Ford Davies
• Rosencrantz / Second Gravedigger — Sam Alexander
• Guildenstern — Tom Davey
• Gravedigger — Mark Hadfield
• Player King — John Woodvine
• Osric / Player Queen — Ryan Gage
• Dumbshow King — Samuel Dutton
• Dumbshow Queen / Priest — Jim Hooper
• Reynaldo / Dumbshow Poisoner — David Ajala
• Marcellus — Keith Osborn
• Barnardo — Ewen Cummins
• Francisco / Fortinbras — Robert Curtis
• Voltemand — Roderick Smith
• Cornelia — Andrea Harris
• Lucianus — Ricky Champ
• Lady-in-waiting — Riann Steele
• Lady-in-waiting — Zoe Thorne

DVD release

The film was released by 2 Entertain in the United Kingdom and Ireland on DVD on 4 January 2010 and on Blu-ray on 19 April 2010 and on DVD and Blu-ray on 4 May 2010 in the United States and Canada.

Bibliography

• Wilson, Benji (20 December 2009). "David Tennant brings Hamlet to TV for Christmas". The Times. Retrieved 21 November 2018.

Further reading

• Griggs, Yvonne (2010). "Review of Shakespeare's Hamlet (directed by Gregory Doran for BBC TV), BBC Two, 29 December 2009". Shakespeare. 6 (2). Taylor & Francis: 253–255. doi:10.1080/17450911003790257. eISSN 1745-0926. ISSN 1745-0918. S2CID 192150772.
• Rokison, Abigail (2009). "David Tennant on Hamlet". Shakespeare. 5 (3). Taylor & Francis: 292–304. doi:10.1080/17450910903138062. eISSN 1745-0926. ISSN 1745-0918.

External links

• Hamlet at IMDb
• Hamlet at BBC Online
• Archived Site - BBC