 ONE NIGHT OF SHAKESPEARE - THE PLAYS
Hamlet
Shakespeare's most famous drama, where the main character is torn between his morals and his need for revenge.
After returning home after his father's death, Hamlet finds out his uncle Claudius has married his mother Gertrude. Suspicious about his dad's death, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father who confirms that Claudius murdered him.
Hamlet plots revenge on Claudius and starts acting like a madman, which makes Claudius suspicious and scares the woman he loves - Ophelia.
After convincing a group of actors to re-enact his father's death, Hamlet takes Claudius's anger as proof of his crime, though his mother tries to calm him backstage. While talking to his mother, Hamlet hears someone moving behind the curtains. Thinking it's Claudius, Hamlet stabs through the curtain then realises it's Ophelia's father he has killed. Ophelia, driven mad by Hamlet's behaviour and her father's death, falls into a stream and drowns.
Claudius's failed plans of sending Hamlet to England to be killed are followed by his final plot - having Ophelia's brother challenge him to a duel. Laertes is armed with a poisoned tipped sword and the battle begins, but Gertrude is mistakenly poisoned instead.
Laertes loses to Hamlet but scratches his arm to make sure the poison is administered, so Hamlet takes the sword, cuts and poisons Laertes who then confesses Claudius's plan.
Before he dies Hamlet uses his last bit of strength to kill Claudius and start his famous death speech.
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