Hamlet – The Clown Prince

This is another play in the series of clown plays written and directed by Rajat Kapoor. The play involves clowns who are planning to perform the play Hamlet. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of his most renowned works, which is intricate, long and tragic. Our cute, lovely clowns fight over the casting, and end up misinterpreting the original Hamlet. The dialogues are funny, filled with contemporary references.

The play is must watch and wholly entertaining. The character of Clown Claudius in particular gets the best moments and was portrayed very well. The setup, and the flow of the play is impeccable as expected from Rajat Kapoor.

Two words of caution though – 1) please read a summary or the story of the original play. While the original’s key themes of murder, procrastination and revenge are retained, parts of this play may not be fully enjoyed if you do not know the original. 2) Many dialogues, particularly the start is in pure Gibberish. They are NOT meant to be understood. So don’t worry if you don’t catch a few sentences here and there.

On these two fronts, the play also deviates from others of Rajat’s plays where the story is either summarized at one point or the other, or is not much relevant to the understanding of the play. Also, Gibberish is contained in very brief portions of the other presentations unlike in this one.

AglaPlay Verdict: Must Watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4/5
Language: English, Gibberish
Duration: 1 Hour 30 minutes (Approx.)
Writer:  Rajat Kapoor 
Inspired from: Shakespeare / Hamlet
Director: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Vinay Pathak,
Kalki Kochelin & Others

Below are few relevant links.

Behind the scenes
A collation of the Reviews
Complete Play [Original]
Original play summary

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