Dublin Theatre Festival 2025: Hamlet

Hamlet. Image Teatro de Plaza

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Really? Is this really the best way to launch Dublin Theatre Festival 2025? A production of Hamlet by a Peruvian company whose cast all live with Down Syndrome? What could this possibly tell us about Hamlet? Hasn't newly incumbent, festival director Róise Goan already included so many plays with agendas that half the programme looks like an Oireachtas report? Don't we already have our own company, Blue Teapot, working with people with intellectual disabilities? Isn’t such tokenism condescending, being politically rather than theatrically motivated? I mean, aren’t these productions the equivalent of nativity plays for grown-ups where we applaud at how well everyone’s done without critical judgement? Hamlet’s eight strong cast have heard it all before. Have heard and endured far worse. Which is why they give a Smells Like Teen Spirit, grunge middle finger to their detractors. Reminding us that productions like Teatro La Plaza’s Hamlet don't make theatre smaller, they make it infinitely larger. Pushing at what’s possible, at what’s allowed, at conventions and at the conventional, at our notions of inclusivity and community.

Which is not to say Hamlet will appeal to everyone. Adapted and directed by Chela De Ferrari from Shakespeare’s classic, and presented in Spanish with English surtitles, this is not Hamlet in any version you know of. But whose Hamlet is that exactly? Olivier? McKellen? Cumberbatch? Tennant? Add your own. Instead, De Ferrari gives us a smartly subverted Hamlet which relies heavily on Brechtian alienation. The line between character and actor erased, as is the framing fourth wall, to allow direct social and political commentary. Frequent use of projections, from backstage conversations to a graphic birth scene, honing in on truth over make believe. Shakespeare’s text powerfully subverted to the same end. Speaking to the hopes, fears, joys, and terrors of living with Down Syndrome. Scenes like “get thee to a nunnery” or “we are such stuff as dreams are made of” or “to be or not to be” smacking you with insight into people whose ability to marry, reproduce, raise a family, live a life of contribution and dignity is constantly being regulated and questioned. People as funny, vain, wild or affectionate as anyone you know. Performers Octavio Bernaza, Jaime Cruz, Lucas Demarchi, Manuel García, Diana Gutierrez, Cristina León Barandiarán, Ximena Rodríguez and Álvaro Toledohave intensely talented, present and invested, speaking for themselves and about themselves with joy and with humour. For whom theatre influences life and is never just a refuge or escape from it.

Hamlet. Image Teatro de Plaza

It’s often the case that our visual habits reinforce our limited sense of signification, leaving unquestioned the role of subjectivity and failing to challenge fixed meanings or so called objectively given truths. Here, a shift from the unquestioned story to the story as an ongoing, shared act of creation, culturally loaded by audience and cast, opens fresh possibilities, both interpretive and performative. Even so, while Hamlet’s feel good vibes and irresistible cast are sure appeal to everyone, Brechtian theatre isn't everyone's cup of tea. Plus, the show overplays its hand and becomes unbalanced, even allowing for Hamlet not being a faithful adaptation. The end rushing to wrap up the play’s narrative like it’s making a mad dash for the exit. Yet by any standard, especially those it sets for itself, Hamlet is a roaring success. Re-presenting the text, and the wider world, to reveal riches we might not have otherwise gleaned. And a ‘let’s get this party started’ finale that brings it all home with considerable style. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all, launching the DTF 2025 party with some of the best party people in town. With a production that serves as a lasting testament to the importance and impact of theatre, both as a medium of expression and a force for change.

Hamlet, based on the play by William Shakespeare, adapted by Chela De Ferrari, presented by Teatro la Plaza, runs at The O’Reilly Theatre as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2025 until September 27.

For more information visit Dublin Theatre Festival 2025