Crash Course: Casting Hamlet

Over the summer, between the months of May and August 2022, we (Marlis, Hope, & Liam) set out to learn as much about casting Hamlet and Shakespeare in Canada and abroad as possible. I created this ‘crash course’ entitled “Alas, Poor Yorick: An Interrogation of Casting Hamlet and Shakespeare in Canada and Abroad” with the intention of preparing us for the conducting of interviews we would be doing about Hamlet and Shakespeare more broadly for our podcast. The goal was to become well versed in the following topics, as it pertains to Hamlet/Shakespeare: celebrity & Shakespeare, Shakespeare & accessibility, queering Hamlet, women playing Hamlet, colourblind & colour-conscious casting, Hamlet’s colonial legacy, IBPOC adaptations of Shakespeare, and finally Canadian Hamlet/Shakespeare in Canada.

© 2022 Hope Van Der Merwe.

One of 12 north windows at St. John the Divine in Victoria
One of 12 north windows at St. John the Divine in Victoria, BC featuring Hamlet. Photo courtesy of Erin Kelly.