Hamlet (EWTC show)

Hamlet
Company	East West Theatre Company
Genre	A play with music
Location	Bosnian Culture Centre, Tuzla
Creative team
Director	Haris Pašović
Writer	William Shakespeare
Set designer	Amir Vuk Zec
Poster Design	Bojan Hadžihalilović Goran Lizdek
Costume design	Oshyosh
Lighting design	Semir Ramić Husein Ahmetašević
Choreographer	Toni Cots
Sound Designer	Momo Ladević
Dramaturge	Robin Holms
Stage Combat	Ragib Karamehmedović Krešimir Brajković
Musicians	Dino Sukalo (guitar) Atilla Aksoy (piano keyboards, bass) Amar Cesljar (percussions) Melih Berse (ney)
Photography	Fuad Foco
Wardrobe	Sefika Hukić
Other information
Executive Producer	Irena Zic
Financial Coordinator	Sanela Brcić
Secretary	Aida Cumurija
Official website

Hamlet is a theatre show produced by the East West Theatre Company from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and directed by Haris Pašović.^[1] The co-producer for Hamlet are Bosnian Cultural Centre Tuzla, British Council/Urban Cultures and Zagreb Youth Theatre (ZKM).^[2]

Director Haris Pašović's main hero, Hamlet, is a Muslim hero struggling to survive in an ancient Islamic superpower.^[3] That is, East West Theatre Company's Hamlet is set in Topkapı Palace, Ottoman sultan’s court in Istanbul. Shakespeare's story and the names remained the same, save the titles (sultan) and Turkey instead of Denmark, as well as cultural references.

Original cast of East West Theatre Company's Hamlet includes the following actors and characters:^[4]

• Amar Selimovic plays courageous, playful and seductive Hamlet who faces the most important political, intimate and metaphysical choices in the dramatic and fast-moving world.
• Damjana Cerne is Gertrude, valid sultan, the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire, gracious but passionate.
• Sultan Claudius, played by Frano Maskovic, is handsome and perfidious - almost Hamlet’s age.
• Miodrag Krivokapic is poignant as profoundly unhappy Ghost, mysterious Player and mind-blowing Grave-digger.
• Zana Marjanovic plays rebellious erotic Ophelia, oppressed by her father.
• Horatio, played by Damir Markovina is sexy and smart, much more than Hamlet’s shadow.
• Slaven Knezovic plays both manipulative Polonius and selfish Laertes.
• Armin Catic and Aldin Omerovic play soft and unscrupulous Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as well as several other roles.
• Fortinbras is a woman, a contemplative princess played by Sabina Bambur.

Costume design was created by the well-known trio of designers known as Kao Pao Shu, and the se was designed by the Bosnian architect Amir Vuk Zec. Production is accompanied by Bosnian musicians Dino Sukalo (guitar), Atilla Aksoy (keyboards, bass), Amar Cesljar (percussions) and a Turkish musician Melih Berse (ney) who play live on stage. Robin Holmes (Paris) is dramaturge, Toni Cots (Barcelona) dance choreographer, Ragib Karamehmedović and Krešimir Brajković stage-combat choreograpohers, while Lejla Jusic is a singing coach.^[5]

References