A Stage Proposal for Hamlet’s Politicised Body: Requiem for a Woman Born to be King
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37130/58a94m77Keywords:
Body politics, gender studies, queer theory, Re-Con-Queering Shakespeare, gendeconstruction, genreconstructionAbstract
This article is addressed to stage performers and directors, offering alternative ways of thinking and interpreting a role while using Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a pretext - both the play and the lead. In my gendeconstructed and genreconstructed vision, the main character’s female physical body is forcefully substituted by the politicised body (male, royal, learned) imposed by societal expectations. Its practical utopian aim is to offer female actors new roles and possibilities, new visions of dusty classical roles. My “personal and political” standpoint is to advocate for more female roles and, implicitly, more jobs for women in theatres. Most classic plays predominantly feature male roles, which are forever reiterated onstage. However, in the following article’s view, the male characters can be challenged and transformed into female characters, the character’s gender, going beyond the character’s exterior looks – which would easily be obtained using travesty. The following analysis proves that changing the gender of a character will generate a vital change for the whole play. It will function as a de-peripheralized stage catalyst, forcing the sexist heteronormative classical plays to actually work for women, for female actors. This transformation will also give the play a Camp aesthetic, challenging and ultimately changing the conventional genre of the play.
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