David Tennant stars in a film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning production of Shakespeare's great play. Director Gregory Doran's modern-dress production was hailed by the critics as thrilling, fast-moving and, in parts, very funny.
Acting
Tennant's Hamlet is feral, fragile, and utterly unforgettable.
Direction
Doran makes surveillance cameras feel like Shakespearean fate.
Production
Modern-dress Hamlet that actually earns its anachronisms.
Director
Gregory Doran
David Tennant
Hamlet
Patrick Stewart
Claudius / Ghost
Penny Downie
Gertrude
Oliver Ford Davies
Polonius
Mariah Gale
Ophelia
Edward Bennett
Laertes
Peter de Jersey
Horatio
Sam Alexander
Rosencrantz / Second Gravedigger
Mark Hadfield
Gravedigger
John Woodvine
Player King
Ryan Gage
Osric / Player Queen
Jim Hooper
Dumbshow Queen / Priest
David Ajala
Reynaldo / Dumbshow Poisoner
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tennant had just finished his first Doctor Who run when he played Hamlet — the Tenth Doctor's manic energy bleeds straight into this performance.
Doran's production famously used CCTV footage and security cameras throughout, framing Elsinore as a surveillance state — Hamlet watches himself being watched, and the 'to be or not to be' soliloquy becomes a security tape confessional.
GB
