iHamlet: Shakespeare for one

iHamlet is not an average adaptation. Performed by the talented Ashraf Johaardien, the play takes you on an hour-long solo performance of bits and pieces of one of Shakespeare's longest plays, and tracks the transition of the Prince from his deep melancholy to his unhinged passion. What is most intriguing of the performance is the quick shifts between emotion: from grief to rage, madness to pure crazy, which embodies the mind of the mad, bad, moody Prince of Denmark brilliantly.

The one thing that stands out most in this production is that the portrayal of Hamlet is constant, there are no other characters portrayed, just fragments and pieces of the very disturbed soul of Hamlet himself. A gesture that highlights the fixation on the "i" that we have in our modern day lives, it's all about you, isn't it? Or is it all about Hamlet? You decide.

Johaardien commented: "Hamlet's central moral dilemma transcends the Elizabethan period. His struggle to act in a corrupt world while maintaining a sense of his moral integrity reflects the same dilemmas we have faced through the ages and which we still face in South Africa and the world today."

Catch this sharp and witty production at The Fringe, Joburg Theatre from Friday, 11 May to Saturday, 19 May, 2012. Tickets are R115 and can be bought online. Click here.

Directed & Designed by Jade Bowers
Performed by Ashraf Johaardien
Adapted by Robin Malan