Hamlet

William Shakespeare
Chela De Ferrari 
Teatro La Plaza / Lima

From her studio in the heart of the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru, Chela De Ferrari has been creating works that defy the norm for twenty years. This is again the case with this production of Hamlet, which unfolds multiple life stories while engaging in dialogue with the major existential questions of Shakespeare’s tragedy.

How can you be in the world if the world makes you invisible or pushes you aside? This is how the troupe of eight atypical actors and actresses translates the question posed by Hamlet in his most famous monologue. Individuals with Down’s syndrome, they tell their own stories to criticize a world driven by productivity that only gives them little space. With playfulness and humour as well as a fighting spirit, they deconstruct a conformist and rigid social universe whose conventions and norms often erase any kind of difference.

On stage, they are all Hamlet, on a profound quest for self despite the obstacles blocking their expression of their uniqueness. In a production that exalts their contrasts as much as their sense of community, they also draw a path towards a meaningful common space. Towards a new utopia where individual singularity and joyful unison come together. 

An eclectic dramatic montage, the show makes Shakespeare’s prose resonate through some quite unusual voices. The most canonical lines from the tragedy of Hamlet are given a range of new meanings. Refreshing!