To be or not to be “there”. That was the question Saint Lucians were asking before the gates to Gaiety on Rodney Bay were opened on Tuesday September 9th. To those who were not there, what a tragedy! To those who were there, it was a thing of beauty. All indications point to a fabulous performance by the cast of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre.
Promptly at 7:30 p.m. the National Anthem of Saint Lucia was played, signifying the entrance of the Governor General, Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy. The night at the theatre brought together an audience which included but was not limited to Ministers of Government, members of the judiciary, Honourable Derek Walcott, other notable Saint Lucian artists, teachers, students and lovers of the arts.
“The acting was superb!”, “…such a vivid portrayal”, “Hamlet was
brought back to life”, were among the comments made by the audience who expressed profound satisfaction with the remarkable performance by the Shakespeare Globe Theatre of Hamlet. The play dramatizes the excruciatingly fatal course Prince Hamlet takes to avenge his father’s murder. It portrays tragedy as its principle theme with intense grief and fury pointing to subthemes of political conspiracy and moral corruption. Set in the kingdom of Denmark, the play tells how Prince Hamlet claims revenge on his uncle Claudius for the murder of the old king Hamlet, Claudius own brother and Prince Hamlet’s father. With the king now dead, Claudius succeeds to the throne and marries Gertrude, King Hamlet’s widow and Hamlet’s mother.
The staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet was made possible with the invaluable support of the Cultural Development Foundation, the Saint Lucia Tourist Board and LIAT. Cast and crew made their departure on Wednesday morning for the next stop of their two (2) year tour to Barbados and then Saint Vincent.