There are, at a minimum, and I checked, 18 bazillion adaptations of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” It’s one of the most beloved and scrutinized texts in the whole of the English language.
More actors than anyone can count — strike that, I guess there’ve been 18 bazillion — have put their stamp on this 425-year-old play about a prince and his revenge against his conspiring, murderous uncle. The words “to be or not to be” are emblazoned within the global lexicon, preserving forever Shakespeare’s complex thoughts about ending one’s own life, as generation after generation of performers and directors put their own stamp on perhaps the most well-worn dramatic material humanity has.