Ur-Hamlet
A performance by Eugenio Barba based on
Vita Amlethi by Saxo Grammaticus
(1200 A.D.)
Saxo, the monk, unearths Hamlet's skeleton from the basements of
the castle, evokes his life and interprets it in Latin. He
addresses the spectators in this archaic and defunct language,
unveiling and commenting the vile intentions of the characters and
of their deeds. He wanders through the performance, is at the
centre of the action, identifies himself with its development and
struggles to avoid its uncontrolled events, seeking a way of
escape.
The bare space is lightened by torches that can be both portable
and fixed to the ground. These moving flames modulate the intensity
of the actions and the perception of the space. The actors move
amidst a labyrinth of torches, they carry them and use them to
underline - as in a painting by Rembrandt - the fragment of a scene
or a detail.
The stage action follows Saxo's storyline, punctuated by Hamlet's
outbursts of folly. Moments of indolence are interspersed with
frantic crises, while assassins or credulous accomplices run after
Hamlet to interpret his behaviour. At times, the whole reality
becomes a delirium. The events take place in a castle which is
besieged not by the Other World and its ghosts, but - much more
concretely - by the outside and its subsoil.
From the subsoil rats emerge, carriers of plague. These enemies of
the human race surface as miasmas from the dark and underground
layers of an orderly society.
Invaders are expected from the outside. Up to now, wretched and
hungry people have been arriving, looking for refuge. Are they
going to be contaminated by the plague or are they its carriers?
The castle's dwellers get rid of them methodically yet without
anger: a mere territorial cleansing operation. In the cemetery, a
few graves are always open in readiness. The gravediggers try to
keep order in this kingdom in which lethal forces scurry
around.
While corpses burn and the mad night of revenge seems ended,
Hamlet, as in a solitary prayer or a hymn of war, proclaims new
rules invoking the name of his father. It is not his father's ghost
that appears, but a child, ready to fight for his New Order.
2009 Ensemble:
On Stage: Akira Matsui
(Japan), Yalan Lin (Taiwan), Ni Nyoman Tjandri, I Wayan Bawa, Ni
Wayan Sudiani and 30 performers and musicians from the Gambuh Desa
Batuan Ensemble (Bali): I Ketut Buda Astra, I Ketut Lida, I Ketut
Sandi, I Ketut Suwana, I Ketut Karwan, I Made Budiana, I Made
Merta, I Made Renanta, I Made Suamba, I Made Suteja, I Made Lesit,
I Nyoman Doble, I Nyoman Suwida, I Wayan Bawa, I Wayan Kader, I
Wayan Marca, I Wayan Martawan, I Wayan Naka, I Wayan Purnawan, I
Wayan Rawa, I Wayan Suamba, Ida Bagus Made Kertayasa, Ni Kadek
Ariantini, Ni Luh Anik Windasari, Ni Made Partini, Ni Made Srimpi,
Ni Nyoman Juniati, Ni Nyoman Tjandri, Ni Wayan Nugini, Ni Wayan
Phia Widari Eka Tana, Ni Wayan Sudiani, Milvia Terenzi, Pino
Confessa (Bali), Brigitte Cirla (France), Augusto Omolú and Cleber
da Paixão (Brazil), Annada Prasanna Pattanaik (India), Magnus
Errboe (Denmark), Odin Teatret (Denmark), and the Foreigners'
Chorus (52 performers from 22 countries): Aeran
Jeong (South Korea), Agnieszka Masternak, Agnieszka Sosnowska
(Poland), Alberto Martinez Guinaldo (Belgium), Aleksandra Marzec
(Poland), Alessandro Curti (Italy), Alvaro Iván Hernández Rodríguez
(Colombia), Ana Laura López Morales (Mexico), Andrea De San Juan
Hazen (Spain), Antonello Motta (Italy), Bruna Longo (Brazil),
Carlos Carmona (Mexico), Carolina Paola Balduzzi (Argentina),
Christina Kyriazidi (Greece), Da mian Borowiec (Poland), Dawid
Gudel (Poland), Deise Nunes (Brazil), Devrim Evin (Turkey),
Dominique Serena Antignano (Italy), Edyta Kutnik (Poland), Ewa
Piotrowska (Poland), Felipe Vergara (Colombia), Francesca Guillén
(Mexico), Francisco Villicaña Maldonado (Mexico), Giuseppe Leonardo
Bonifati (Italy), Isabela Paes (Brazil), Isadora Pei (Italy),
Juliana Zancanaro (Brazil), Linda Cunningham (Ireland), Liza
Urbanová (Czech Republic), Loren O'Dair (Great Britain), Luciana
Martuchelli (Brazil), Magdalena Ptasznik (Poland), Małgorzata
Gajdemska (Poland), Marcelo Gomes Miguel (Brazil), Michał
Dawidowicz (Poland), Monserrat Montero Cole (Costa Rica), Paweł
Leszczyński (Poland), Piotr Filonowicz (Poland), Rachael Lindsay
(Ireland), Roberto Aldorasi (Italy), Sofija Ristevska
(Macedonia), Soon-Heng Lim (Malaysia), Stefan Adamski
(Poland), Stephanos Regueros Savvides (Cypres), Steve Rice-Khan
(Great Britain), Thadd McQuade (USA), Vanna Kårfors (Sweden),
Wioletta Farkowska (Poland), Wout van Tongeren (The Netherlands),
Yuval Dishon (Switzerland), Zofia Dworakowska (Poland).
Music: Composed and arranged by Frans Winther;
classical Balinese and Indian songs
Scenic space: Luca Ruzza
Costumes: Jan de Neergaard and Odin Teatret
Light design: Luca Ruzza and Odin Teatret
Sound: Jørgen Lindholm
Production director: Anne Savage
Production assitant: Luciana Bazzo
Photos: Claudio Coloberti
Poster: Luca Ruzza
Programme: Rina Skeel
Technicians: Fausto Pro, Donald Kitt, Hans
Kobberø
English translation: Judy Barba
Director's assistants: Julia Varley, Ana Woolf,
Anna Stigsgaard
Administrative director: Søren Kjems
Litterary advisor: Nando Taviani
Dramaturgy and director: Eugenio Barba
Odin Teatret thanks: The Polish Embassy in
Jakarta, Atalaya Teatro, H.M. Berg, Trevor Davis, Mirella Schino
and Batuan Dalam Desa
Produced by: Odin Teatret, Hamlet Sommer, the
Municipality of Elsinore, Ravenna Festival, KIT - Copenhagen
International Festival and the Grotowski Institute, Poland.
With the support of: Danish Arts Council -
Centre for Performing Arts, Kulturministeriets Provinspulje,
Counties of Ringkjøbing and Frederiksborg, the Municipalities of
Holstebro, Lemvig, Struer, Thyborøn/Harboøre, Thyholm, Ulfborg/Vemb
and Vinderup, The Japan Foundation.
Technical Information
English: Technical Information
Read
more about Ur-Hamlet here (documents, images, videos).
Programme
English (2006)
English
(2009) Updated Insert to the 2006
programme
Poster

On Tour
2009: Poland
2006: Denmark, Italy
International Festivals
The World as a Place of Truth, Wroclaw,
Poland (2009)
Hamlet Sommer, Helsingør, Denmark (2006)
Ravenna Festival, Italy (2006)