HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK – DIRECTED BY ROBERT LEPAGE – Ex MACHINA – CANADA

Based on the play by William Shakespeare

Company name: Ex Machina – Robert Lepage and Côté Danse – Guillaume Côté.

Company country: Canada

Director: Robert Lepage

Distribution:

Guillaume Côté – Hamlet

Greta Hodgkinson – Gertrude

Robert Glumbek – Claudius

Carleen Zouboules – Ophelia

Lukas Malkowski – Laertes

Bernard Meney – Polonius

Natasha Poon Woo – Horatio

Connor Mitton – Rosencrantz

Willem Sadler – Guildenstern

The creative team:

Created and directed by: Robert Lepage

Co-created by / Choreography: Guillaume Côté

Creative Director: Steve Blanchet

Assistant director: Félix Dagenais

Creative Assistant and Rehearsal Director: Anisa Tejpar

Composer: John Gzowski

Assistant set designer and props: Vanessa Cadrin

Lighting design: Simon Rossiter

Costume design: Michael Gianfrancesco, Monika Onoszko

Artistic collaborator: Olivier Normand

Wrestling Consultant: Jack Rennie

Show synopsis:

Hamlet is in a dark place. Full of doubt and perhaps touched by madness. After the death of his father in dubious circumstances, he loses his balance... Are those around him lying to him? Is his mind, troubled by apparitions, betraying him? When reason falters, how can we distinguish between truth and falsehood, how can we distinguish between loyalists and traitors?

Created in collaboration by choreographer Guillaume Côté and director Robert Lepage, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark immerses the viewer in a world of deceptive appearances, where ghosts and humans meet in a minimalist setting. Lights, shadows and transparency play a central role. This metaphorical reinterpretation of Shakespeare's narrative draws a fine line between what is and what is not in the whims of the mind and the movements of the body.

Company description:

EX MACHINE – Under the leadership of artistic director Robert Lepage, Ex Machina creates, produces and disseminates multidisciplinary artistic works, mostly theatrical. The company gathers creators from several fields of activity and offers a wide range of artistic productions: original pieces written and performed solo or collectively, pieces based on existing texts, productions in which different disciplines (dance, music, museology) merge with theater, works and multimedia productions with a predominantly technological dimension. Ex Machina develops most of its shows in Quebec City, then presents them extensively in Quebec, Canada and elsewhere in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Côté Danse entered the Canadian dance scene in 2019 through the collaboration of choreographer Guillaume Côté and producer Etienne Lavigne. They have actively presented a range of original works, films and immersive dance experiences. Under the artistic direction of Guillaume Côté, Côté Danse establishes a unique vision, combining classical dance knowledge with captivating geometries and intense human connections. Their style is characterized by contemporary lines, elegant contours and refined athleticism, creating a distinct and dynamic aesthetic. Through collaborations with a diverse group of designers, artists and partners, Côté Danse has produced four feature-length productions. These creations have attracted significant attention with over 125 performances over 4 years in more than 20 cities.

Director biography:

Multidisciplinary artist Robert Lepage is an actor, director, playwright and stage manager. Acclaimed by international critics, his original, contemporary and unusual works, inspired by recent history, transcend boundaries and challenge the standards of stage writing, especially through the use of new technologies. Robert Lepage enrolled at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec in 1975. After an internship with Alain Knapp in Paris in 1978, he returned to his hometown, where he developed most of the artistic versatility for which he is known. The year 1994 marked an important step in his career: he founded Ex Machina, a multidisciplinary creative company, of which he is the artistic director. Also under his leadership, the multidisciplinary production center, La Caserne, was created in June 1997 in Quebec City. This last creative space was the birthplace of almost all of Ex Machina's productions until 2019. His most significant works include The Seven Streams of the River Ota and The Dragons' Trilogy; the solo shows, The Far Side of the Moon and 887; operas, The Damnation of Faust and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; his multimedia works, The Image Mill and The Library at Night; Peter Gabriel's The Secret World Tour and The Growing Up Tour; and collaborations with Cirque du Soleil, KÀ and TOTEM.

Show duration: 1h 45 minutes (without break)