Called “American theater's most inspired company” by Ben Brantley of The New York Times, the Wooster Group is the most renowned and acclaimed experimental ensemble of its time. With its trademark use of video, sound and precise physical language, the company takes on Shakespeare as you've never seen it before—a wildly inventive, not-to-be-missed artistic event.
The Wooster Group's Hamlet is described as an archeological excursion into[IMG:L] Richard Burton's Hamlet. This legendary 1964 Broadway production was recorded in performance and shown as a feature film for two days only in 2000 theaters. The idea of bringing a live theater experience to thousands of viewers in different cities was trumpeted as a new form called "Theatrofilm." The Group's Hamlet reconstructs a hypothetical theater piece from the edited film, like an archeologist inferring a temple from a collection of ruins. Channeling the ghost of the 1964 performance, the Group descends into a kind of madness, intentionally replacing its own spirit with the spirit of another.
Developed last season at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, The Wooster Group's Hamlet is now in residence at the Public Theater for a limited engagement.
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