Press Release: 17 January 2011
Shakespeare, Hamlet and Wittenberg Globe Education announces programme for Spring 2011
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed The Ninety-Five Theses onto the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg, thus providing the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Globe Education’s programme for Spring 2011 explores the impact that Wittenberg had on early-modern English drama with a series of inspiring events.
Patrick Spottiswoode, Director, Globe Education, explains: “Last autumn we claimed that Shakespeare is German and explored the extraordinary impact that Shakespeare has had on German drama and culture. The theme continues this Spring with events examining the influence of Wittenberg on the Elizabethan stage, on Marlow’s Dr Faustus and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.”
The season opens with a London premiere of a new print of Sven Gade’s classic 1920 silent film Hamlet, with a live, improvised piano accompaniment played by Neil Brand. The film stars silver screen goddess Asta Nielsen in the title role, as a Hamlet born a girl but raised as a boy as part of a dynasty determined to retain the crown in the aftermath of war.
In a series of lectures at the Globe, Professor Ewan Fernie and Dr Adrian Streete will explore the relationship between Shakespeare’s Theatre and the Protestant Reformation. Frank Günther will discuss the art and politics of translating Shakespeare’s plays into German with particular reference to Hamlet. Globe Education’s Read Not Dead series will feature a staged reading of David Davalos’ acclaimed 2008 play Wittenberg which wittily imagines conversations between Luther, Doctor Faustus and Hamlet at the university.