Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Comédie-Française: Ivo Van Hove confronts the ghosts of power

With translation by Frédéric Boyer and adaptation co-written by Bart Van den Eynde, Ivo Van Hove has chosen to adopt Hamlet's point of view. The staging opens with a prologue that immediately places the spectator in the character's troubled consciousness. Throughout the play, this subjectivity becomes the prism through which the scenes unfold: mental wandering, existential doubt, anger, pain.

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Hamlet, a young man confronted with the brutal death of his father and his mother's hasty remarriage to his uncle, is searching for a truth that theater seems capable of revealing. But the illusion quickly dissipates, and the desire for justice turns to violence. Van Hove directs this slow plunge into the loss of bearings and the rise of a destructive rage, true to his vision of a theater inhabited by inner conflicts and contemporary crises.

The deliberately tight cast, with actors playing multiple roles, accentuates Hamlet's confusion and blurs the contours of reality. This choice reinforces the dramatic tension and visually conveys the mental chaos that dominates the plot.

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This Hamlet is aimed at audiences interested in demanding, contemporary stage forms. Lovers of Shakespeare will find this stripped-down version an intense, uncluttered re-reading of the play, while audiences more attached to classical staging may be disoriented by the tight psychological reading. The play can be seen at the Odéon (which is co-directing) in the 6th arrondissement from January 21 to March 14, 2026, as part of a new production by the Comédie-Française.

This article is based on sources available online and the show has not been viewed.

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