Though this be madness, yet there is method in't

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is best known as a dramatist. Born in Dublin, he came to London in 1876, establishing himself as a music and theatre critic (spending three years writing for the London newspaper Saturday Review) . He was also a prominent member of the Fabian Society (a socialist organisation with a commitment to social justice and a belief in the progressive improvement of society through political reform).   Pygmalion (1912) is probably his best known play. Spoiler: He's not a fan. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW: from Postscript (1945) to 'Back to Methuselah', 1921 HE took up an old play about the ghost of a murdered king who haunted his son crying for revenge, with comic relief provided by the son pretending to be that popular curiosity and laughing- stock, a village idiot. Shakespeare, transfiguring this into a tragedy on the ancient Athenian level, could not have been quite unconscious of the evolutionary stride he was taking. But he did not see his way ...

As we move into Act III (which is the longest part of this production running at 44 minutes), the stage is draped in enormous canvases, hanging down from the ceiling and spread across the floor. They suggest Hamlet's mania from their volume, and the preoccupations of his troubled mind in the calligramatic references to serpents, crowns and skulls. The concept of the tortured artist is constructed visually before it is enacted. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's incompetence is suggested through their casual behaviour at the start of the scene, giving the idea that they don't really have their minds on the job, but are treating their time here as a holiday. Essiedu's Hamlet embarks on the 'To be or not to be' speech with a plaintive, questioning tone. You can explore the RSC's approach to this in more depth here . When Ophelia enters she is evidently still smarting from their previous exchange and attempts to return a large box of gifts and keepsakes fr...

Today we reach our dramatic, and tragic conclusion. The final scene begins with Hamlet explaining to Horatio how he has altered the letter from Claudius condemning him to death - and substituting the names Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead. They are interrupted by Osric, a courtier, who issues the challenge for a duel with Laertes - in order to settle a bet for the king. It probably didn't look like this. Moments later, after Hamlet issues an apology to Laertes, explaining that he acted in madness and without 'purpos'd evil' (V.ii.237), the duel begins. It can be seen as another example of a play within a play, a performance staged for a court audience as well as the theatrical one. Laertes selecting the poisoned foil and Claudius preparing the poisoned drink with a deadly jewel, 'Hamlet, this pearl is thine' (V.ii.284) as planned. Hamlet, unaware of the plot against him, wins the first points - and Gertrude drinks to his health from the poiso...

This is another very short scene, of less than thirty lines; the shortest in the entire play, in fact. Hamlet describes the body of Polonius as 'Safely stowed' in the opening line. It's an odd description: indicating something neatly stored or packed away - perhaps concealed - but with the suggestion of later use. Hamlet's speech is disordered and irrational. He speaks in non-sequiturs and riddles when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, emphasising his distrust of former friends in his depiction of them as foolish: mere sponges who 'soak up the king's countenance' but will get their just desserts when they are squeezed out 'dry' in the end. Gone is the iambic pentameter that has mostly shaped Hamlet's speech previously,  but there is an interesting use of double syntax or syntactic slide   at the end of the scene.  (This is where meaning is created in one line and then recreated differently in the next - one of my favourite th...