Editing Hamlet (section)

===20th century===
Apart from some western troupes' 19th-century visits, the first professional performance of Hamlet in Japan was [[Otojirō Kawakami]]'s 1903 ''[[Shimpa|Shinpa]]'' ("new school theatre") adaptation.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=259–262}} [[Tsubouchi Shōyō]] translated ''Hamlet'' and produced a performance in 1911 that blended ''Shingeki'' ("new drama") and ''[[Kabuki]]'' styles.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=259–262}} This hybrid-genre reached its peak in [[Tsuneari Fukuda]]'s 1955 ''Hamlet''.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=259–262}} In 1998, [[Yukio Ninagawa]] produced an acclaimed version of ''Hamlet'' in the style of [[Noh|Nō]] theatre, which he took to London.{{sfn|Dawson|2002|p=180}}

[[Konstantin Stanislavski]] and [[Edward Gordon Craig]]—two of the 20th century's most influential [[theatre practitioner]]s—collaborated on the [[Moscow Art Theatre]]'s seminal [[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|production of 1911–12]].{{efn|For more on this production, see the [[Moscow Art Theatre production of Hamlet|MAT production of ''Hamlet'']] article. Craig and [[Konstantin Stanislavski|Stanislavski]] began planning the production in 1908 but, due to a serious illness of Stanislavski's, it was delayed until December 1911.{{sfn|Benedetti|1999|pp=188–211}}}} While Craig favoured stylised abstraction, Stanislavski, armed with his [[Stanislavski's 'system'|'system,']] explored psychological motivation.{{sfn|Benedetti|1999|pp=189, 195}} Craig conceived of the play as a [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolist]] [[monodrama]], offering a dream-like vision as seen through Hamlet's eyes alone.{{efn|On Craig's relationship to [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]], [[Russian Symbolism|Russian symbolism]], and its principles of [[monodrama]] in particular, see Taxidou;{{sfn|Taxidou|1998|pp=38–41}} on Craig's staging proposals, see Innes;{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=153}} on the centrality of the protagonist and his mirroring of the 'authorial self', see Taxidou{{sfn|Taxidou|1998|pp=181, 188}} and Innes.{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=153}}}} This was most evident in the staging of the first court scene.{{refn|''Hamlet'' 1.2.1–128.}}{{efn|A brightly lit, golden pyramid descended from Claudius's throne, representing the [[Feudalism|feudal hierarchy]], giving the illusion of a single, unified mass of bodies. In the dark, shadowy foreground, separated by a [[Scrim (material)|gauze]], Hamlet lay, as if dreaming. On Claudius's exit-line the figures remained but the gauze was loosened, so that they appeared to melt away as if Hamlet's thoughts had turned elsewhere. For this effect, the scene received an [[standing ovation|ovation]], which was unheard of at the [[Moscow Art Theatre|MAT]].{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=152}}}} The most famous aspect of the production is Craig's use of large, abstract screens that altered the size and shape of the acting area for each scene, representing the character's state of mind spatially or visualising a [[Dramaturgy|dramaturgical]] progression.{{sfn|Innes|1983|pp=165–167}} The production attracted enthusiastic and unprecedented worldwide attention for the theatre and placed it "on the cultural map for Western Europe".{{sfn|Innes|1983|p=172}}{{sfn|Innes|1983|pp=140–175}}

The first modern dress stagings of ''Hamlet'' happened in 1925 in London and then New York.&nbsp; Barry Jackson's [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]] opened their production, directed by H.K. Ayliff at the Kingsway Theatre on August 25, 1925.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Styan |first=J.L. |title=The Shakespeare Revolution |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1977 |isbn= |pages=143–149}}</ref> Ivor Brown reported, "Many of the first night audience came to scoff and remained to hold its breath, to marvel and enjoy. . . .Shakespeare's victory over time and tailoring was swift and sweeping."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Ivor |date=August 29, 1925 |title=To Breech or Not to Breech |journal=The Saturday Review |pages=232}}</ref> Horace Brisbin Liveright's modern dress production opened at the Booth Theater in New York on November 9, 1925, the same night that the London production moved to Birmingham. It was known "more dryly, and perhaps with a touch of something more sinister, as 'the plain-clothes ''Hamlet''<nowiki/>'" and did not reach the same level of success.<ref name=":0" />

''Hamlet'' is often played with contemporary political overtones. [[Leopold Jessner]]'s 1926 production at the Berlin Staatstheater portrayed Claudius's court as a parody of the corrupt and fawning court of [[William II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm]].{{sfn|Hortmann|2002|p=214}} In [[Poland]], the number of productions of ''Hamlet'' has tended to increase at times of political unrest, since its political themes (suspected crimes, coups, surveillance) can be used to comment on a contemporary situation.{{sfn|Hortmann|2002|p=223}} Similarly, [[Czech Republic|Czech]] directors have used the play at times of occupation: a 1941 [[Vinohrady|Vinohrady Theatre]] production "emphasised, with due caution, the helpless situation of an intellectual attempting to endure in a ruthless environment".{{sfn|Burian|2004}}{{sfn|Hortmann|2002|pp=224–225}} In China, performances of Hamlet often have political significance: Gu Wuwei's 1916 ''The Usurper of State Power'', an amalgam of ''Hamlet'' and ''Macbeth'', was an attack on [[Yuan Shikai]]'s attempt to overthrow the republic.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=267–269}} In 1942, [[Jiao Juyin]] directed the play in a [[Confucianism|Confucian]] temple in [[Sichuan|Sichuan Province]], to which the government had retreated from the advancing Japanese.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=267–269}} In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989|protests]] at [[Tiananmen Square]], Lin Zhaohua staged a 1990 ''Hamlet'' in which the prince was an ordinary individual tortured by a loss of meaning. In this production, the actors playing Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius exchanged roles at crucial moments in the performance, including the moment of Claudius's death, at which point the actor mainly associated with Hamlet fell to the ground.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=267–69}}

[[File:Mignon Nevada Ophelia2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mignon Nevada]] as Ophelia, 1910]]

Notable stagings in London and New York include Barrymore's 1925 production at the [[Haymarket Theatre|Haymarket]]; it influenced subsequent performances by [[John Gielgud]] and [[Laurence Olivier]].{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=247–248}}{{sfn|Thompson|Taylor|2006a|p=109}} Gielgud played the central role many times: his 1936 New York production ran for 132 performances, leading to the accolade that he was "the finest interpreter of the role since Barrymore".{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=249}} Although "posterity has treated [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]] less kindly", throughout the 1930s and 1940s he was regarded by many as the leading interpreter of Shakespeare in the United States and in the 1938/39 season he presented [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]'s first uncut ''Hamlet'', running four and a half hours.{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=249–250}} Evans later performed a highly truncated version of the play that he played for South Pacific war zones during World War II which made the prince a more decisive character. The staging, known as the "G.I. Hamlet", was produced on Broadway for 131 performances in 1945/46.{{sfn|Blum|1981|p=307}} Olivier's 1937 performance at The Old Vic was popular with audiences but not with critics, with [[James Agate]] writing in a famous review in ''[[The Sunday Times]],'' "Mr. Olivier does not speak poetry badly. He does not speak it at all."{{sfn|Tanitch|1985}} 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 [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]; critics found resonance between O'Toole's Hamlet and [[John Osborne]]'s hero, Jimmy Porter, from ''[[Look Back in Anger]]''.{{sfn|Smallwood|2002|p=108}}{{sfn|National Theatre|n.d.}}

[[Richard Burton]] received his third Tony Award nomination when he played his second Hamlet, his first under John Gielgud's direction, in 1964 in a production that holds the record for the longest run of the play in Broadway history (137 performances).
In 1968, [[Joseph Papp]] staged at [[The Public Theater]] what became known as ''"Naked" Hamlet'' because the text was stripped down. It starred [[Martin Sheen]] as Hamlet, and Sheen delivered the monologues either in Spanish or with a Spanish accent, as Hamlet's alter-ego, a Puerto Rican janitor named Ramon.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Della Gatta |first1=Carla |title=Latinx Shakespeares: Staging US Intracultural Theater |date=2023 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=9780472903740 |page=27 |url=https://press.umich.edu/Books/L/Latinx-Shakespeares2}}</ref>

Other New York portrayals of ''Hamlet'' of note include that of [[Ralph Fiennes]]'s in 1995 (for which he won the [[Tony Award]] for Best Actor)—which ran, from first preview to closing night, a total of one hundred performances. About the Fiennes ''Hamlet'' [[Vincent Canby]] wrote in ''The New York Times'' that it was "... not one for literary sleuths and Shakespeare scholars. It respects the play, but it doesn't provide any new material for arcane debates on what it all means. Instead it's an intelligent, beautifully read ..."{{sfn|Canby|1995}} [[Stacy Keach]] played the role with an all-star cast at [[Joseph Papp]]'s [[Delacorte Theater]] in the early 1970s, with [[Colleen Dewhurst]]'s Gertrude, [[James Earl Jones]]'s King, [[Barnard Hughes]]'s Polonius, [[Sam Waterston]]'s Laertes and [[Raul Julia]]'s Osric. Sam Waterston later played the role himself at the Delacorte for the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]], and the show transferred to the [[Vivian Beaumont Theater]] in 1975 ([[Stephen Lang]] played Bernardo and other roles). Stephen Lang's ''Hamlet'' for the [[Roundabout Theatre Company]] in 1992 received mixed reviews{{sfn|Gussow|1992a}}{{sfn|Guernsey|Sweet|2000|p=43}} and ran for sixty-one performances. [[David Warner (actor)|David Warner]] played the role with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 1965. [[William Hurt]] (at [[Circle Repertory Company]] [[off-Broadway]], memorably performing "[[To be, or not to be]]" while lying on the floor), [[Jon Voight]] at Rutgers,{{clarify|date=March 2023|reason=Which Rutgers?}} and [[Christopher Walken]] (fiercely) at Stratford, Connecticut, have all played the role, as has [[Diane Venora]] at [[The Public Theatre]]. The [[Internet Broadway Database]] lists sixty-six productions of ''Hamlet''.<ref>{{IBDB show|4172|Hamlet}}</ref>

[[Ian Charleson]] performed Hamlet from 9 October to 13 November 1989, in [[Richard Eyre]]'s production at the [[Royal National Theatre|Olivier Theatre]], replacing [[Daniel Day-Lewis]], who had abandoned the production. Seriously ill from [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] at the time, Charleson died eight weeks after his last performance. Fellow actor and friend, [[Ian McKellen|Sir Ian McKellen]], said that Charleson played Hamlet so well it was as if he had rehearsed the role all his life; McKellen called it "the perfect Hamlet".{{sfn|McKellen|Puttnam|Wax|Redgrave|1990|p=124}}{{sfn|Barratt|2005|p=63}} The performance garnered other major accolades as well, some critics echoing McKellen in calling it the definitive Hamlet performance.{{sfn|Davison|1999|pp=170–182}}

[[Keanu Reeves]] performed Hamlet from 12 January to 4 February 1995 at the [[Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre]] ([[Winnipeg]], Manitoba). The production garnered positive reviews from worldwide media outlets.{{sfn|Small|2019}}