Hamlet in pieces - Andy Lavender

Three extraordinary productions of Hamlet by three giants of modern theatre.

Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and Robert Wilson have all attempted radical reworkings of Hamlet. This book examines their very different approaches.

Brook's Qui Est La - his 'variation' on Hamlet - was first seen in Paris in 1995, incorporating the writings of Artaud, Brecht, Craig, Meyerhold, Stanislavsky and Zeami Motikoyo into edited scenes from Shakespeare's play. He has since tackled the full play in a spare and definitive production which provides the subject of the epilogue to this volume.

Lepage's Elsinore is a technically complex tour de force - a multimedia drama on a moving set, with Lepage playing all the characters.

Wilson's Hamlet: a monologue, directed, designed and performed by Wilson himself, is a one-man show - but one that needs twenty backstage staff to bring it to life.

Vividly reconstructing each of the three productions, the author offers a dyamic combination of casebook and critique, complete with 16 pages of production photos.