Gertrude – The Cry

Gertrude – The Cry is a play by British playwright Howard Barker. The play had its world premiere in 2002, directed by the author, in the great hall of Elsinore Castle, Denmark as part of the annual international Hamlet Festival.[1] Its original production featured actors Tom Burke, Sean O'Callaghan, Jason Morell, Justin Avoth, Emma Gersch, Jane Bertish and Victoria Wicks.

Gertrude - The Cry
Written byHoward Barker
Date premiered2002
Original languageEnglish

Gertrude – The Cry is Howard Barker's reworking of Shakespeare's Hamlet, focusing on the character of Gertrude, the mother of the protagonist in Shakespeare's play. It is not the first time Barker took an existing play as the basis for a reworking. In 1991, he re-imagined Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in his play Vanya, and in 1986 he adapted Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women.

Barker considers Gertrude to be one of his major works, remarking that "It's probably my best play... The one for which I feel the greatest satisfaction in".[2]

Characters
  • Gertrude, a Queen
  • Claudius, a Prince
  • Cascan, Servant to Gertrude
  • Hamlet, an Heir
  • Isola, Mother of Claudius
  • Ragusa, a Young Woman
  • Albert, a Duke of Mecklenburg

References
  1. Webpage on Gertrude on The Wrestling School website
  2. Barker, Howard (10 May 2010). "HOWARD BARKER IN CONVERSATION WITH DAVID IAN RABEY (2/2)". TheatreVoice (Interview: Audio). Interviewed by David Ian Rabey. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
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