Hamlet

Ludwig van Beethoven / Jacek Tyski

  • Act I

    1 h 15 min.

  • Intermission

    20 min.

  • Act II

    35 min.

Duration: 2 h 10 min.

Ballet in two acts based on William Shakespeare
World premiere: 3 October 2013 

What was important to Jacek Tyski when he chose Shakespeare’s Hamlet for his full-length choreographic debut? ‘I tried to get inside the protagonist, to understand how tough he found it to struggle with himself and the hardships of fate. I tried to read the play in a non-literal way, to see the message concealed in silences, pauses, moments of obliqueness, and between the lines. I was interested in reading the classic with contemporary fears in mind. The beginning of my ballet is a silent cry of despair: the voice of the protagonist who realizes he has lost everything of importance. In reality that cry is the beginning and the end of Hamlet, it holds the whole together. The protagonist doesn’t evolve during the show, he is aware where he’s going from the start. He knows he is condemned to die and that he won’t escape his destiny …’

Cast

Credits

Polish National Ballet
Recorded music

Sponsors

  • Mecenas Teatru Wielkiego - Opery Narodowej

  • Partners of Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera

  • Partner Festiwalu Szekspirowskiego

  • Partner of Polish National Ballet

  • Media partner of Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera