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Hamlet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Home | Hamlet: Languages and themes | The director's cut

Languages and themes

Line delivery
The text
The director's cut
Elizabethan context
Hamlet - a thriller
Revenge Tragedy
Death and delay
Madness

To be or not to be in performance as a soliloquy

Who's this? Michael Boyd is the director.

Context: The director wanted actors to be allowed to make mistakes and be surprised by the play. During the rehearsal period the company experimented with the 'To be or not to be' speech at the centre of the Players' performance of The Mousetrap rather than as a soliloquy. This is where it is positioned in the first Quarto.

The director's cut

Soliloquy or not soliloquy?
'To be or not to be' in performance as a soliloquy
The Mousetrap in rehearsal
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