Hamnet

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William Shakespeare had one son. He named him Hamnet. He then left home to pursue his career in theatre, effectively abandoning his family. In 1596, he was told that the boy – who was then 11 years old – was seriously ill. By the time Shakespeare reached Stratford, Hamnet had died. In 1599, Shakespeare wrote a play called Hamlet.

Hamnet is too young to understand Shakespeare. And he is one letter away from being a great man. We are too old to understand Hamnet. How close are we to greatness? We meet in the middle, in a theatre, in purgatory: youth reaching forward to a life it will never know, an audience reaching back to a life it has forgotten.

From the makers of the Fringe First and OBIE Award-winning LIPPY and Chekhov’s First Play, Hamnet is a solo work for an 11-year-old boy.

“Over the course of a beautifully spry hour you can admire the performance’s bright surface or plunge into it fathoms deep” ★★★★★ Irish Times

Supported by Culture Ireland as part of GB18: Promoting Irish Arts in Britain.