Shakespeare’s Globe has taken the Bard’s words quite literally for its two-year tour of a fast-paced Hamlet, which will be performed in every single country in the world. Veronica Stivala catches up with Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe and director of Hamlet, just before it reaches Malta’s shores who tells her why the play can entertain and speak to anyone.

Dominic Dromgoole. Photo: Helena Miscioscia

Two hundred countries, seven continents, two years, 16 actors. These figures sum up, but come nowhere close enough to doing justice to the extraordinary feat that Shakespeare’s Globe has embarked upon. On April 23, 2014 – the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth – Shakespeare’s Globe embarked upon a global tour of Hamlet to every country in the world. The last show will be performed on April 26.

The former is the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, while the second is the quarter centenary of his death (for he is believed to have entered and exited life with uncanny timing, on the very same day of the year). Unsurprisingly, this is a completely unprecedented theatrical adventure.

Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe and director of Hamlet said of the project: “Globe to Globe Hamlet was created with the aim of performing Hamlet to as many people as possible, in as diverse a range of places as possible. The central principle of the tour is that Shakespeare can entertain and speak to anyone, no matter where they are on earth and that no country or people are not better off for the lively presence of Hamlet.”

The origins for this mammoth adventure date back to 2012 when, as part of the Cultural Olympiad that accompanied the London Olympic Games, the Globe hosted an epic and ground-breaking theatrical festival titled Globe to Globe. Thirty-seven companies from 37 different countries gathered at the Globe to perform Shakespeare’s entire canon in languages ranging from Maori to Mandarin, from Japanese to Juba Arabic, over a six-week period. From this festival, the company was inspired to give something back and link up with the partners they had made. This marathon tour of Hamlet is co-directed by Dromgoole and another colleague, Bill Buckhurst.

Among the many interesting aspects of this project is the fact that it is always performed in its original language, English. Speaking about overcoming the language barrier, Dromgoole refers to the 2012 project and notes how they found that wherever their audiences were from they could be understood, “because Shakespeare’s narrative isn’t simply in the words”. He cites as another example a show the Hamlet company recently performed to refugees from the Central African Republic in a small village in Cameroon. “Children gathered round and watched for two and a half hours smiling, laughing and cheering at the fight scenes. They didn’t have to understand the words to understand the action on stage,” he says.

Indeed, Dromgoole has said that “the central principle aim of the tour is that Shakespeare can entertain and speak to anyone, no matter where they are on earth and that no country or people are not better off for the lively presence of Hamlet”. While we can definitely speak of Shakespeare’s universality, it cannot be denied that not everyone would agree. But Dromgoole rebuts this with examples from the tour, noting how they have found that all their audience, no matter where they are from, take something from the play – be it in Rwanda, where the image of a man with a skull made the audience laugh (they later explained how, for them, finding skulls and skeletons in the ground isn’t unusual and doesn’t shock them), or in Gambia where the women in the audience said it was perceived as a story about the woman’s right to remarry, or in China, where Shakespeare’s popularity is gaining momentum.

Ladi Emeruwa and Nayem Hayaat share the title role. Photo: Bronwen Sharp

“There are many more stories like this, but in all, the audience are moved in some way or can reflect back on their own personal or political experiences. Hamlet, in particular, is a story that can reach out to audiences in a multitude of ways.”

Why Hamlet? Apart from being “so beautiful and so perfect in form”, Dromgoole muses how the play is “such a protean play that it can respond in very different ways to different places. In some places it has challenged, in some inspired, in some consoled.”

And, he adds, its themes concerning parents and children, rebellion and depression seem pretty universal. The company is using a text that is a mix of the Folio text of Hamlet and the First Quarto. The First Quarto was very much a touring version, roughly half the length of the Second Quarto. “That means,” says Dromgoole, “it has an energy, with a fast-moving narrative, and clarity. It will continue to stay fresh as each company member can double or triple up and play lots of different roles.”

At the time of this interview, Hamlet had been performed in over 135 countries, to more than 100,000 people, and had travelled over 100,000 miles. For Dromgoole, a highlight surely had to be performing in Ukraine, the eve before the presidential election, as well as playing to dignitaries from the UN in New York, the US. They also had quite an experience in Rwanda, where the power was down inside the theatre and they had to move the whole production outdoors.

This is not the first time Globe Shakespeare will perform in Malta. Dromgoole says that they “have absolutely loved touring” here.

“The audience is so responsive and warm, and understands the nuances of the text. It’s going to be fantastic.”

The company is also opening up the play for free to migrants from Libya, as they have not been able to perform in the country but still wanted to ensure they Libyan audiences were also included, before the end of the tour.

Shakespeare’s Globe will perform a production of Globe to Globe Hamlet at the Salesian Theatre, Sliema, on February 8 at 2 pm and 7.30 pm. Performances are also being planned at the migrants’ open centres.

www.globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com