HAMLET- SPECULATIVE DESIGN
Our final project of year 1 was a speculative design for Shakespeare's Hamlet. I decided the most intriguing element of the play for me was Hamlet's mind, and how as his world is falling apart, so does his psyche. I wanted to reflect this in my set and costume designs. I decided to take the play out of any particular time period and instead set it in a more abstract place that reflects Hamlet's mental state. I created a raked stage with a cracked stone floor and 3 mirrored walls that through the different scenes of the play can tilt, pivot and be moved in or out to transform the space depending on how the events make Hamlet feel, the staging becoming increasingly distorted and dramatic as the play goes on. Due to the set being a reflection of Hamlet's mind, I played with the reflections the mirrors created and how they could be used in the performance. I wanted people and objects to appear from unexpected places, for example the King and Queen stepping out from a hidden door high up in the mirror, almost as if they are invading Hamlet's mind, or Ophelia in her grave being revealed by lifting a section of the cracked stage. Hamlet and Ophelia both lose their minds and I wanted to show this through their costumes by having them slowly become more stained in a watery ink effect as their story lines progress.
