Daggers, ghosts and pas de deux: The madness of Hamlet in motion
Acclaimed Croatian choreographer Leo Mujic is at Queensland Ballet taking dancers through the steps of his modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which promises to be a visual spectacle – but without words.
How do you put on a play by Shakespeare without words? Well, you dance it, don’t you?
Queensland Ballet’s next production is the Australian premiere of Hamlet, a bold and contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare’s epic drama by choreographer Leo Mujic of the Croatian National Theatre.
Mujic has left his home city of Zagreb and is in Brisbane now preparing QB’s dancers for this production. It features music by Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saens and, when I catch up with Mujic after rehearsals, he explains that the music is an important part of a wordless Shakespeare production.
“We are promulgating the life of Shakespeare’s word in our own medium,” he explains. “The music replaces the words, and it flows beautifully. For me the music is very important, and you need to have the feeling that the music was written for this ballet, even though it was not.”
Mind you, there is some Hamlet material in the music which includes segments of Tchaikovsky’s lesser-known symphonic poem Hamlet, Overture-Fantasia, Op. 67, which clearly articulates several scenes.
This production will be presented in the intimate Talbot Theatre at QB’s Thomas Dixon Centre at West End. Normally we would be seeing a ballet such as this in a bigger theatre with a live orchestra. In this instance,there will be audio, no orchestra and a few less bells and whistles, but Mujic is not fazed by that at all. He will accommodate himself and his production to the space.
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Young QB soloist Edison Manuel, 24, is doing a turn as Hamlet and says the intimacy of the Talbot Theatre is a plus.
“With the audience set to be so close and intimate, that has pushed us to be even more real with our dynamics and physicality,” Manuel says. “I think it will work well.”
As for telling the story without words, well, alongside the music there are the dancers.
“So much of the work we are doing is putting the story into the steps,” Manuel says. “I think it will work well.”
Mujic has encouraged the dancers to read Hamlet or watch movies and do their research, and Manuel confirms he has done that and recommends the 1990 Franco Zeffirelli film version of Hamlet, which starred our own Mel Gibson with Glenn Close.
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Mujic is a fan of Gibson’s performance and is happy that Manuel and others have done a bit of reading and viewing, although he is not too militant about it.
“I haven’t set them homework, but I hope they have done a bit of work,” he says. “I do encourage them to do that.”
Watching him taking a rehearsal before our chat, he is masterful – firm but friendly and filling in very fine details as the dancers go through their paces. The full company will be in this production and some of the younger dancers from the Queensland Ballet Academy. Working with a world class choreographer such as Mujic is a bonus for them.
The costumes by Manuela Paladin Sabanovic are gorgeous, simple but lush in their own way, and the electrifying staging by Stefano Katuna will offer audiences a gripping new perspective on this classic, according to QB artistic director Ivan Gil-Ortega. He and Mujic once danced together at the Stuttgart Ballet and are old friends.
‘The virtuosic dance drama propels the audience into a world of betrayal and trickery, one where ghosts and humans collide’
“I have known Leo Mujic for many years and watched him become a master storyteller,” Gil-Ortega says. “His cinematic style captivates audiences and draws them into the drama creating a deep and immersive experience. Though Shakespeare can be hard to follow, dance makes the story immediate and visceral. The virtuosic dance drama propels the audience into a world of betrayal and trickery, one where ghosts and humans collide.”
But why select a story that was written more than 400 years ago?
“Because Shakespeare is forever,” Mujic says. “The eternity of it fascinated me. Shakespeare wrote these words more than 400 years ago and they remain relevant because they explore human nature. While we’ve learnt how to fly, extend our lives and transform how we live, what drives, defines and destroys us has not fundamentally changed. I think Mr Shakespeare understood this perfectly. He hit the spot.”
Mujic says the quality and atmosphere of Shakespeare’s words allowed him to transform the story into a performance without words.
“And perhaps their greatest strength is that they sometimes resonate more powerfully when they are not spoken,” he says. “This production is not about claiming there is only one interpretation or one choreographer who matters. I am inspired by many forms of storytelling including films, plays and TV series. Ballet as a means of communication is just one part of the wider conversation.”
If you have forgotten what Hamlet is about here is a potted synopsis. Prince Hamlet’s father is murdered by his uncle Claudius, who then claims the Danish throne and marries Hamlet’s mother. A ghost reveals the treachery. Hamlet feigns madness to plot revenge, culminating in a tragic fencing match where almost the entire royal family dies from poisoned blades and wine.
Spoiler alert: It does not end well and there is a lot of turmoil along the way.
“Through my choreography I aim to capture both Hamlet’s psychological states – his sense of betrayal, his grief and quest for revenge, and Ophelia’s lack of power and agency. The steps become a reflection of their inner-turmoil, revealing what words cannot express.”
Hamlet will be presented at the Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre, West End, June 19 to July 18.
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