Ballet Austin Presents Hamlet Valentine Day Weekend at the Long Center
The Story
Hamlet is arguably one of the most famous plays in the English language. Likely written in early 1600s, the tragedy is a milestone in Shakespeare’s dramatic development. According to most critics, the playwright achieved artistic maturity in this work through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. Shakespeare’s focus on this conflict was a revolutionary departure from contemporary revenge tragedies, which tended to graphically dramatize violent acts on stage in that it emphasized the hero’s dilemma rather than the depiction of bloody deeds.