In 1937, Tyrone Guthrie directed Laurence Olivier in a Jones-inspired Hamlet at the Old Vic.

In 1937 Tyrone Guthrie directed the play at Elsinore, Denmark with Laurence Olivier as Hamlet and Vivien Leigh as Ophelia.

In 1963, Olivier directed Peter O ' Toole as Hamlet in the inaugural performance of the newly formed National Theatre ; critics found resonance between O ' Toole's Hamlet and John Osborne's hero, Jimmy Porter, from Look Back in Anger.

John Gielgud directed Richard Burton in a Broadway production at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1964 – 5, the longest-running Hamlet in the U. S. to date.

The first Hamlet in color was a 1969 film directed by Tony Richardson with Nicol Williamson as Hamlet and Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia.

In contrast to Zeffirelli, whose Hamlet was heavily cut, Kenneth Branagh adapted, directed, and starred in a 1996 version containing every word of Shakespeare's play, combining the material from the F1 and Q2 texts.

Several times since 1995, the American Shakespeare Center has mounted repertories that included both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with the same actors performing the same roles in each ; in their 2001 and 2009 seasons the two plays were " directed, designed, and rehearsed together to make the most out of the shared scenes and situations ".

Several times since 1995, the American Shakespeare Center has mounted repertories that included both Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with the same actors performing the same roles in each ; in their 2001 and 2009 seasons the two plays were " directed, designed, and rehearsed together to make the most out of the shared scenes and situations ".

The play has been adapted twice for BBC Radio 3, first on 24 December 1978 directed by John Tydeman ; the cast included Edward Petherbridge as Guildenstern, Edward Hardwicke as Rosencrantz, Freddie Jones as The Player, Robert Lang as Claudius, Maxine Audley as Gertrude, Angela Pleasance as Ophelia, and Martin Jarvis as Hamlet.

The second adaptation was broadcast on 15 July 2007 as part of a celebration of Stoppard's 70th birthday ; the production was directed by Peter Kavanagh with Danny Webb as Rosencrantz, Andrew Lincoln as Guildenstern, Desmond Barrit as The Player, John Rowe as Polonius, Abigail Hollick as Ophelia, Liza Sadovy as Gertrude, Simon Treves as Claudius and John Dougall as Hamlet.

Memorable films from post-war England include David Lean's Great Expectations ( 1946 ) and Oliver Twist ( 1948 ), Carol Reed's Odd Man Out ( 1947 ) and The Third Man ( 1949 ), and Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death ( 1946 ), Black Narcissus ( 1946 ) and The Red Shoes ( 1948 ), Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Kind Hearts and Coronets ( 1949 ) directed by Robert Hamer.

He directed and wrote or co-wrote the films Bad Dreams, Threesome, The Craft, Dick, Nancy Drew and Hamlet 2.

There he directed the boys in Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest, but managed to play all the leading roles himself.

This Hamlet was in fact the National Theatre's official opening production, directed by Olivier, but Simon Callow has dubbed it " slow, solemn, long ", while Ken Campbell vividly described it as " brochure theatre.

Since then, West has appeared frequently on stage and spent two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company playing the title roles in Richard II and Hamlet, both directed by Steven Pimlott.

She also appeared as Ophelia in an acclaimed 1994 – 95 Company B production of Hamlet, directed by Neil Armfield, starring Rush and Richard Roxburgh.

The company initially performed at the Old Vic, their first production being Hamlet, directed by Olivier and starring Peter O ' Toole.

In December 1975, she portrayed Gertrude in the Royal National Theatre, London, production of Hamlet, directed by Peter Hall.

In 1969, Faithfull played Ophelia opposite Nicol Williamson's title character in Hamlet, directed by Tony Richardson and featuring Anthony Hopkins as Claudius.

* Hamlet, starring Ian Charleson, directed by Richard Eyre ( 1989 )

* Hamlet directed by Peter Hall with David Warner in the title-role ( 1965 )

* Hamlet, starring Ben Kingsley, directed by Buzz Goodbody ( 1976 )

British cinema's growing international reputation was enhanced by the success of The Red Shoes, the most commercially successful film of its year in the U. S., and by Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

It is thought that Shakespeare never read Gesta Danorum, and instead had access to an auxiliary version of the tale describing the downfall of the Prince of Denmark, whose real name-Amleth-was used in anagram by Shakespeare for Hamlet.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and among the most powerful and influential tragedies in English literature, with a story capable of " seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others.

Shakespeare based Hamlet on the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum as subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest.

It leads Hamlet to a secluded place, claims that it is the actual spirit of his father, and discloses that he — the elder Hamlet — was murdered by his brother Claudius pouring poison in his ear.

Polonius is Claudius's trusted chief counsellor ; Polonius's son, Laertes, is returning to France, and Polonius's daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet.

Shortly afterward, Ophelia is alarmed by Hamlet's strange behaviour, reporting to her father that Hamlet rushed into her room, stared at her, and said nothing.

Claudius, now fearing for his life, finds a legitimate excuse to get rid of the prince: he sends Hamlet to England on a diplomatic pretext, accompanied ( and closely watched ) by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible ; then news arrives that Hamlet is still alive — a story is spread that his ship was attacked by pirates on the way to England, and he has returned to Denmark.

Hamlet avenged his father by killing his uncle ( Artist: Gustave Moreau date unknown )

Distraught at the lack of ceremony ( due to the actually-deemed suicide ) and overcome by emotion, Laertes leaps into the grave, cursing Hamlet as the cause of her death.

Horatio attempts to kill himself with the same poisoned wine but is stopped by Hamlet, so he will be the only one left alive to give a full account of the story.

Consequently, there is no direct evidence that Kyd wrote it, nor any evidence that the play was not an early version of Hamlet by Shakespeare himself.

Scholars have often speculated that Hamlet < nowiki ></ nowiki >' s Polonius might have been inspired by William Cecil ( Lord Burghley )— Lord High Treasurer and chief counsellor to Queen Elizabeth I. E. K. Chambers suggested Polonius's advice to Laertes may have echoed Burghley's to his son Robert Cecil.

The latest date estimate is based on an entry, of 26 July 1602, in the Register of the Stationers ' Company, indicating that Hamlet was " latelie Acted by the Lo: Chamberleyne his servantes ".

Katherine Duncan-Jones accepts a 1600 – 1 attribution for the date Hamlet was written, but notes that the Lord Chamberlain's Men, playing Hamlet in the 3000-capacity Globe, were unlikely to be put to any disadvantage by an audience of " barely one hundred " for the Children of the Chapel's equivalent play, Antonio's Revenge ; she believes that Shakespeare, confident in the superiority of his own work, was making a playful and charitable allusion to his friend John Marston's very similar piece.

The 2006 publication by Arden Shakespeare of different Hamlet texts in different volumes is perhaps the best evidence of this shifting focus and emphasis.

The clearest alleged instance of existentialism is in the " to be, or not to be " speech, where Hamlet is thought by some to use " being " to allude to life and action, and " not being " to death and inaction.

Hamlet reflects the contemporary scepticism promoted by the French Renaissance humanist, Montaigne.