Maja Kleczewska's 2019 Hamlet/Гамлет: a case of trans- / inter-cultural Shakespeare production in Poland thirty years after the transition

Abstract

The article considers a production of Hamlet by Maja Kleczewska at Teatr Polski in Poznań in the context of formal experimentation as well as its political and social ramifications, which are inextricably intertwined. Both the reasons for and consequences of choosing the sitespecific location of the Old Abattoir in Poznań as well as the lack of the division of the production space into stage and auditorium are analysed, with reference to reception processes, the ontological status of spectators and characters as well as the comments, which the production makes on the political and social situation of Poland and Central Europe in 2019 and 2020, especially immigration and marginalised groups within Central European societies.