FORTINBRAS

by Blessing, Lee

The play takes up where Hamlet left off, but proves to be as relevant to today’s political landscape as from when it is set. Entering during the last scene of Hamlet, young Fortinbras orders the removal of the old royal family while he devises the best possible media blitz to legitimise his claim to the throne of Denmark. Horatio, once Hamlet’s confidante, is now engaged as his public relations person, which proves invaluable when Fortinbras attempts a disastrous invasion of Poland in the company of a harrowing array of ghosts, which include a repentant Claudius and Gertrude, and an Ophelia we would barely recognise. Fortinbras is soon forced to ponder the qualities which make a ruler succeed, but Horatio, driven to madness by the doubts of those around him, assassinates Fortinbras before killing himself. In the afterworld all of the characters meet and, with the benefit of hindsight, decide to make a new go of things in Elsinore, though what their fates have to say about the world they’ve left behind presents a sobering parable.