Staging Hamlet for a Modern Audience Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet

I do not agree with the comment of Hazlitt:   'There is no play that suffers so much in being transferred to the stage'  Ã‚   Based on performances I have seen and other plays by Shakespeare, I think this is one of his better plays as it does not stick to guidelines.  Ã‚   Although a long play, it has a depth to it, that, if transferred to the stage well, is transformed from a long and winding script to a fascinating play filled with suspense and the emotions of the characters run high.   'Hamlet', nonetheless is a challenging script and Hamlet himself can either create the play, or destroy it, he is the key element.      To fascinate the audience from the outset you need to examine the setting that Shakespeare describes throughout the script.   For in order to create the atmosphere that is in the book you have to overcome the challenges set out, for example the many different sets in the play, the castle, the battlements, Ophelia's bedroom, and the grounds. The sky is important in 'Hamlet' for the stars and Greek Gods were the interest of the time.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   'This most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this magestical roof fretted with golden fire- why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.      The difficulty of including all the settings for each scene on stage can be solved by a backdrop or sky cloth painting which has perspective, drawing the audience in.   The sky can be painted high on a separate curtain which can roll up or down in order to be able to change the time of day, for example, one of a sunrise and another of the stars and... ...empty corridor, dissolving into a Pepsi machine! But the moment is not a visual joke but a creepy reminder of him being omniscient in the play.   This would be an effective way of playing him on stage, walking from room to room in the castle to show his restless soul.    'Hamlet' is a challenging play which has been produced many times in many different ways.   The ideal 'Hamlet' would be one which combines the old with the new and illustrates the depth and feelings of hamlet through the set whilst creating the characters as the reader sees them whilst reading the script.   Everyone sees the ideal 'Hamlet' differently and it would probably be impossible to create one which everyone would love, but to satisfy most I would create all that I have mentioned and create my 'Hamlet' from modern productions and ideas from the text.