The 2009 RSC’s modern Hamlet is a laudable example of how one of Shakespeare’s most contentious

and complex plays can be reassembled as an accessible and socially poignant TV adaption. It stands
as a testimony to the benefits of our modern age, in which lighting, music and imagery can be used
to enhance and guide a plot beyond the realms of language. We are to invited relish in a soundtrack
rich in climax, further adorning Hamlets soliloquies with dark ensembles that compliment every
utterance. Features like the presence of CCTV whisk Hamlet into the modern age, allowing us to
align our ideological concerns about a ‘police state’ with Hamlets persecuted persona. However, the
RSC are careful not to dismantle Shakespeare’s original, language driven production and replace it
with the framework of a TV drama. We still see the idea of a ‘set’ emerge. The camera remains still
in many scenes, allowing the characters to move within the confines of the angle, much like a stage.
Equally, the ‘to be or not to be’ scene is lovingly stripped down to simply Hamlet, void of musical
accompaniment or visual treats. This simplistic intensity reflects Shakespeare’s almost bare stage
and allows language to flourish. It was vital that the RSC struck this balance between visual treats
and the simple conveyance of language.