THEATRE-goers have been warned to expect “coercive” behaviour in Hamlet — a play more than 400 years old.
Producers have also flagged up grief, suicide, mental illness and parental loss in Shakespeare’s to-be-or-not-to-be epic.
GettyTheatre-goers have been warned to expect coercive behaviour in a Shakespeare play over 400 years old[/caption]
AlamyWoke theatre bosses warned the audience: ‘This production contains themes of grief and death, including suicide and the loss of a parent’[/caption]
The tale of the Prince of Denmark’s madness after his father’s murder is a bloodfest, with six characters croaking in the final scene alone.
Bosses at the National Theatre in London deemed it necessary to warn fans in case anyone paying up to £89 for tickets is triggered.
They said of Shakespeare’s longest play: “This production contains themes of grief and death, including suicide and the loss of a parent, depictions of madness, violence, and coercive behaviour.”
Online resource Study.com says of the body count: “It is a well-known fact that Shakespeare’s tragedies normally conclude in death, and Hamlet, written in 1600 to 1601, is no exception.
“The last scene alone reveals the death of six different characters, and that is after the death of Hamlet’s father, Polonius, and Ophelia in earlier scenes.”
In June, London’s Globe Theatre warned of guns and suicide in a Wild West version of Romeo and Juliet.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon also issued a warning about Macbeth in 2023.
It included “scenes of war, violence, and death including execution, suicide, violence against children, murder and domestic, emotional and physical abuse”.
There were also “special effects including flashing lights, strobe lights, loud noises, haze, fire effects, smoking and gunshots”.
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