Hamlet Globe to Globe: Two Years, 193,000 Miles, 197 Countries, One Play

by Dominic Dromgoole

Overview

Two years, 190,000 miles, 197 countries, one play. For the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth the Globe Theatre in London undertook an unparalleled journey to share Hamlet with the entire world. The tour was the brainchild of Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the Globe, and in Hamlet Globe to Globe, Dromgoole takes readers along with him on this wildly ambitious expedition.

From performing in sweltering deserts, capital and remote cities, heaving marketplaces and on Pacific islands, and despite food poisoning in Mexico, the threat of ambush in Somaliland, an Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and political upheaval in Ukraine, the Globe’s players tirelessly pushed on. They carried their own props, instruments, and costumes throughout the journey, and could construct an entire set in less than two hours. Dromgoole introduces this impressive cast of sturdy souls, recounting the highs and lows of their tour, paying witness to Shakespeare’s power to transcend borders and bring people closer together.

Dromgoole also shows us the world through the prism of Shakespeare and why, in its mystery, it resonates so widely―how a sixteenth-century play can touch the lives of men and women in Sudan, citizens of Beijing, and Syrian refugees alike. Through the lens of this epic theatrical journey, Dromgoole gleans new insight into Shakespeare’s masterpiece, exploring the play’s history, its meaning, and its pleasures, and offering a dramatic and heartfelt testament to Shakespeare’s enduring presence on the modern stage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802127969
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	04/17/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,041,760
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dominic Dromgoole was the artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London from 2006 to 2016. He is the author of Will & Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life and The Full Room: An A-Z of Contemporary Playwriting. He has written for the Guardian, Telegraph, and Sunday Times (UK).

Read an Excerpt

Translated into too many languages to count, and performed more times than Shakespeare ate hot dinners, and cold ones, or drew breath for that matter, Hamlet is one of those rare documents, which can truly be said to have brought the world closer together. In 1608, on board a ship called the Dragon, Hamlet was performed by its crew off the coast of Sierra Leone for a group of visiting dignitaries. The crew remembered enough of the play from what they had seen at the Globe to shamble together a show without a script. Several months later, they did the same in Indonesia. Within ten years of its first performance, groups of English actors, known collectively as the English Comedians, were performing it across Northern Europe in broad, hyper physical productions. Since then it has played everywhere, in theatres, fields, caves, hovels and palaces.

It has tested millions of the greatest actors and actresses, leaving some exhilarated with triumph and some desolate with failure, and all hungering for more. It has been recorded, televised and filmed over and over and over again. It is recited in schoolrooms, quoted in boardrooms, mumbled by lovers, pondered on by sages, argued over by critics, passed on from parent to child, cursed by the student, wept over by the spectator, and stored in the heart as a fortifying secret by millions of us afraid of the bruising of the world. It is part of the fabric that surrounds us. It has become in large part us.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Who's There? 13

2 Honouring the Upbeat 31

3 Setting out Through the Baltics 51

4 Words and Walls in Mitteleuropa 69

5 Madness in Mexico City 82

6 Polonius by the Red Sea 103

7 God on a Pacific Island 125

8 Murder and the Pace Fields 142

9 Soliloquies in the Andes 165

10 News from England 186

11 Wittenberg in the Desert 204

12 The World in Revolt 229

13 Fighting for Eggshells and Revenge 257

14 Mission Control 279

15 Friendship on the Road 294

16 Caesar in Zaatari 316

17 Embattled Theatre Near the Great Rift Valley 336

18 The Rest is Silence 353

Conclusion 364

Acknowledgements 372

Index 381

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Hamlet Globe to Globe:

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year 2017

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

“A compulsively readable, intensely personal chronicle of performances in places as various as Djibouti and Gdansk, Taipei and Bogotá . . . [A] wildly ambitious project.”—New York Times Book Review

“You might think of Dromgoole’s new book, Hamlet Globe to Globe, as the Shakespearean equivalent of Bourdain’s TV series, Parts Unknown. Both offer us irresistible samples of what Dromgoole calls ‘good eating and gargantuan drinking’ with off-kilter characters in out-of-our-way places . . . [Dromgoole’s] aesthetic principle, or unprincipled aesthetic, makes him a natural tour guide for global Shakespeare . . . A comic epic.”—Washington Post

“In this thoughtful and often eloquent account of that world-busting tour, Dromgoole reminds us that Hamlet is intensely political as well as deeply psychological, a study of power and a disturber of the status quo . . . Dromgoole, an excellent dramaturge, draws the curtains aside to reveal the play’s lore and history.”—Dallas News

“Irresistable . . . Dromgoole . . . delves into the play’s history, grapples with its themes, and offers a passionate case for its enduring relevance.”—Christian Science Monitor

“Funny, moving, insightful, and sometimes subversive . . . As well as a loving testament to the enduring ability of Shakespeare’s play to connect in myriad ways across countries and cultures, Hamlet: Globe to Globe also succeeds as a deeply felt tribute to travel and the touring life . . . A testament to the value of all such ambitious collaborative ventures.”—Pop Matters

“[Dromgoole’s] book is a joy to read, not just because he is so passionate about his subject, but also because that passion manifests itself so eloquently. There are passages in the book that I stopped to read over a second time because they contained such splendid bursts of language.”—Clyde Fitch Report

“An amazing journey . . . For all lovers of theatre, Shakespeare, and those interested in how other cultures interpret an icon of Western literature . . . A must-read.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“[A] thoroughly enjoyable and charming story . . . Besides detailing the two-year tour itself, it’s a story of the play, its themes and language, famous past players, and how it has been performed and received over the years . . . Sly, witty, and delightful—a glorious Shakespearean romp.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“With candor, humor, and erudition, English theater director Dromgoole tells [an] incredible story . . . Dromgoole is wise and witty; thoughtful, self-assured, even cocky . . . But he is never dull. His mission was to bring Hamlet to the world to show that Hamlet is the world, and he succeeded admirably. A wide readership, not just Shakespeare buffs and scholars, can enjoy this book.”—Publishers Weekly

“In Dromgoole’s breakneck journey from a retractable-roof theater in Poland to a crammed cream-and-gold palace in Peru to a sweltering, bat-infested auditorium in Cambodia, the narrative covers an astonishing swath of world-girdling geography . . . No chronicle ever gave more compelling meaning to Shakespeare’s conviction that ‘all the world’s a stage.’”—Booklist

“Dromgoole’s passion for the play and its power to transcend borders and inform our understanding of human foibles shine through as he pays tribute to the heroic efforts of the players who were in it for the long haul.”—Traveller Magazine

“An enthralling account.”—Bookseller (UK)

“[A] richly entertaining book . . . Dromgoole is trading in a kind of intellectual lock-in . . . in which he tells us good stories while feeding us constantly with his deep love for and knowledge of Hamlet . . . His love of language is contagious . . . There is no one more sparklingly opinionated on theatre than Dromgoole . . . Dazzles.”—Times (UK)

“A delightfully idiosyncratic account of the Globe’s vagabond mission to perform Hamlet in every country in the world . . . The joy of the book is Dromgoole’s gusto.”—Telegraph (UK)

“There’s a real sense of the camaraderie and sheer fun of assembling a company and, quite literally, putting the show on wherever they can . . . The universal themes explored in the play take on a new and thrilling resonance, as the actors learn as much from their audiences as vice versa. By the end of the book, Dromgoole has, indeed, ‘held the mirror up to nature,’ and the stories he has discovered are truly compelling and sometimes vital ones.”—Observer (UK)

“An absorbing account . . . [Dromgoole] clearly knows Hamlet inside-out, and relishes the power and beauty of its language . . . Well-written and thought-provoking . . . Recommended.”—Irish Independent

“The most compelling part of this story (recounted in gripping detail in this book) isn’t the hardships, but the way the play itself travels. You’d be forgiven for thinking a wordy 16th-century play about a Danish prince may not speak to a desert-dwelling Sudanese village, or that the plight of Ophelia wouldn’t move a contemporary Costa Rican. But it did, proving, as Dromgoole had hoped, that this powerful tragedy not only has the ability to transcend time but to cross borders as well.”—National Geographic Traveller (UK)

“If there were ever any doubt that Hamlet is the greatest of all Shakespeare plays—even perhaps the greatest play ever written—then Dominic Dromgoole’s newest book puts any discussion to rest . . . A grand undertaking . . . Along the way we’re privy to a host of amusing stories and biographical anecdotes, and Dromgoole’s wit and English sarcasm turn his narrative into a fun read. What makes it truly worthwhile, however, is his inclusion in each chapter of a meditation on Hamlet itself.”—Weekly Standard

“The tireless Dromgoole goes on a journey that would kill most of us, and connects our greatest poet to every corner of the human experience. Utterly extraordinary.”—Emma Thompson

“This is an amazing story about a bold and eye-popping journey. I loved it. Dominic Dromgoole writes about Shakespeare and touring the globe the way he ran the Globe—with passion, insight, relish and irresistible humour.”—Nicholas Hytner, former Artistic Director of London’s National Theatre

“Dominic Dromgoole’s recounting of the Globe Theatre’s exhausting global tour of Hamlet is exhilarating. The playing company’s intrepid journey around the world—performing Hamlet’s own troubled journey—succeeds in making the familiar unfamiliar and enables in turn a deeply illuminating journey into the play itself.”—Professor James Shapiro, author of 1599 and 1606

“This deeply humane, consistently enthralling account of a theatrical odyssey encompasses travelogue and literary criticism, theatre history and introspective narrative, political commentary and philosophical reflection with beguiling readability.”—Sir Stanley Wells, editor of The Oxford Shakespeare and author of Shakespeare & Co.

From the Publisher

Hamlet Globe to Globe is a compulsively readable, intensely personal chronicle of performances in places as various as Djibouti and Gdansk, Taipei and Bogotá. The book is in large part a tribute to the perils and pleasures of touring.

The New York Times Book Review - Stephen Greenblatt

02/13/2017
With candor, humor, and erudition, English theater director Dromgoole (Will and Me) tells the incredible story of how, from 2014 to 2016, London’s Globe Theatre company performed Hamlet all over the world, in nearly 200 countries. The basic point of both the book and tour is that Shakespeare’s masterwork is universal and timeless. Readers get an informal history of the play’s origins, the state of the theater in Shakespeare’s time, and the ways the play has been produced between then and now. Dromgoole, executive director of the Globe from 2005 to 2016, draws on his vast knowledge of Shakespeare to explain in great detail what the play communicates and how the audience in each country relates to that. He is humble about the larger ramifications of the Globe Theatre’s remarkable feat, but justifiably proud of what his actors and stage crew accomplished. Dromgoole is wise and witty; thoughtful, self-assured, even cocky; and, at times, verbose and esoteric. But he is never dull. His mission was to bring Hamlet to the world to show that Hamlet is the world, and he succeeded admirably. A wide readership, not just Shakespeare buffs and scholars, can enjoy this book. Agent: Patrick Walsh, Canongate Books (U.K.). (May)

Publishers Weekly

★ 04/15/2017
London's Globe Theatre celebrated the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth in a most global manner: by taking the play Hamlet to every countries on the planet (even North Korea), an amazing journey that spanned two years and covered 193,000 miles. Former Globe artistic director Dromgoole begins with the idea and bringing it to fruition: why Hamlet was the first choice, followed by finding financing, actors, and rehearsals. Half the cast was nonwhite, including both actors who portrayed Hamlet. Performances began in Europe, then moved to the Baltics, Latin America, and so on. There were translation problems, food poisonings, Ebola, and hotels, transportation, and politics to deal with. As part of these travels, we learn more about Hamlet, as Dromgoole brings an understanding of where the play is being performed to how the audience has perceived it. Perhaps one of the most fascinating chapters concerns the performance in Cambodia, home of the communist Pol Pot regime and infamous Killing Fields. VERDICT For all lovers of theatre, Shakespeare, and those interested in how other cultures interpret an icon of Western literature. For those who think they understand the play, this is a must-read. [See Prepub Alert, 10/31/16.]—Susan L. Peters, Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston

Library Journal

★ 2017-02-05
Knock, knock. Who's there? Hamlet.To help celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, Dromgoole (Will & Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life, 2006, etc.), the artistic director of the Globe Theatre in London, came up with a fantastical idea: to perform Hamlet in all 204 countries in the world. "With a few detours to avoid war and epidemics," they did, settling on 197 countries—no North Korea, of course, and for some reason, France passed. This is Dromgoole's thoroughly enjoyable and charming story of how they did it: "Unprecedented chutzpah and a healthy quantum of stupidity helped launch the mission." They picked Hamlet because, in the author's estimation, it is "a unique play in the canon of world drama" and possibly "the strangest and most beautiful play ever written." Dromgoole tells several stories. Besides detailing the two-year tour itself, it's a story of the play, its themes and language, famous past players, and how it has been performed and received over the years. He describes how the 12 original players (plus a few others here and there) and four stage managers were chosen. The tour kicked off in London in April 2014 with two performances. Then it was off to the Netherlands. By mid-May, they had 10 performances under their collective belts. In early August in Mexico City, the company was "crumbling like a castle under bombardment." Players were ill, and the city was "decked out in full Day of the Dead splendor." Scenes were omitted, but the play must go on. On the island of Palau, the queen demanded a personal fee of $1,500 to use the performance hall. In Cambodia, the play's poster featured Hamlet holding Yorrick's skull; the irony was palpable. In Saudi Arabia, it was the "first time that Shakespeare [was] performed with men and women on the stage." The final performance took place at the Globe in April 2016. Sly, witty, and delightful—a glorious Shakespearean romp.

Kirkus Reviews