The Play within the Play is an adaptation of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. In this version (in two acts), the play has been shortened, the sets and cast simplified, and the scene order revised to some extent. Estimated running time is under two hours. The intent is to make it easier for small and community theaters to produce, and for modern audiences to enjoy, this fascinating play.
Publisher's Note: Non-profit academic and community theaters may present this adaptation on the stage royalty-free. For production permissions and other information, please contact TimeBeingMedia.com.
From the Introduction: There is one aspect of Hamlet that fascinates me, and that has been my focus for this adaptation: that is the concept of Play. Concepts, I should say, though there is a many in one aspect to it. Half a world away and wholly unknown to Shakespeare, the Japanese term for play, asobu, refers to theater, and to sham fighting, and to ceremony in general. All of these are found in Hamlet.
So I suspect Play also fascinated Shakespeare. In As You Like It (a much better play written about the same time - 1600 or so), we are told that "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players". So Shakespeare obviously had play and playing on his mind at the time.
I think the word merely there says so much about what Shakespeare thought of his profession. And in Hamlet, play and players are layered into nearly every scene... Hamlet is a play of plays, a ceremony of blood and theater.
This adaptation, of course, can be seen as a play within the play. And the plays within the play, with the play, within the play... is one of Shakespeare's most compelling conceptions.
About the Author :
About the Adaptation: Several years ago, I was asked by a friend to do an adaptation of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, which he wanted to direct at a local theater. I did a quick adaptation in my usual fashion: cutting the first act entirely, and making small changes throughout the rest of the play. I sent it to him, and we probably both forgot about it. My father was very proud of his Norwegian ancestry. His great grandparents on both sides emigrated to the US and settled in the Midwest sometime in the mid Nineteenth century. So Ibsen had some resonance for me. When I came across my initial version of Hedda again last year, I decided to do a more thorough job of it. Hedda Gabler is still a popular play, with productions around the world each year. For Ibsen, its popularity is second only to A Doll's House. Hedda, like Hamlet, is a potboiler of a drama built around a single unique and fascinating character. I imagine a lot of the initial interest in Hedda was because audiences had never seen anything like her before. The problem with plays built around something new is that they don't stay new. Though perhaps Hamlet is an exception to that, as Shakespeare is an exception to most rules. In this adaptation, I had no intention of either being faithful to Ibsen, or not being faithful. I have tried to change the aspects of the play that I felt would make it the best experience for an audience today.So, for example, I rewrote the mannered dialogue (which perhaps may be due more to translation than Ibsen) that doesn't sound right to the modern (or at least my) ear. I have also used the character's personal names instead of Mr. This and Mrs. That. In addition, I have tried to make Hedda's character more coherent, at least to me. Possibly this is a mistake, but I couldn't help myself.I also had it in mind to enable a production to be set in the present day. One of the difficult issues with this is that a central action revolves around the destruction of a manuscript . In Ibsen's time, it is conceivable that there might be only one copy. Today that is hard to believe. But I have done my best to make it so, and kept Ibsen's device of the manuscript and the stove.The biggest change of course is that I have cut Ibsen's first act. I tried this first with my adaptation of As You Like It many years ago. Again, this is in keeping with the expectations of modern audiences, which are used to greater ambiguity in productions (and every other aspect of life I suppose). In the end, I like this adaptation better than the original. I doubt Ibsen would say the same.
Review :
