E X T E N S I O N HAMLET AND THE STAGE We know that the earliest performances of the play took place in Oxford, Cambridge and the City of London between 1599 and 1601. Shakespeare himself acted as the Ghost and the first ever Hamlet was Richard Burbage. This Hamlet weighed around 100 kilos and was 37 and he played the mad avenger energetically and often comically, but leaving no doubt about his decisiveness and courage. Two amateur performances were also given aboard the East India Company ship Dragon during Shakespeare s lifetime. On 31 March 1608, Captain Keeling recorded: I invited Captain Hawkins1 to a fish dinner, and had Hamlet acted aboard me, which I permit to keep my people from idleness2 and unlawful games or sleep. Under the Puritans (1642-1660) theatrical performances were banned, but The Grave Makers, an adaptation of Act 5, Scene 1 of Hamlet, was often performed as macabre entertainment. After the Restoration of the monarchy (1660), Hamlet was revived and David Garrick was its great interpreter from 1742 till 1775. He began the severe misconception of the Prince s character which prevailed for the next two hundred years, and severely altered Shakespeare s text by omitting, for example, the gravediggers scene and Ophelia s burial. In 1774, the playwright and philanthropist Hannah More wrote of Garrick: Whether in the simulation of madness, in the sinkings3 of despair, in the familiarity of friendship, in the whirlwind4 of passion, or in the meltings5 of tenderness, he never once forgot he was a Prince with the highest polish6 of fine breeding7 and courtly manners. Edmund Kean (1795-1821), regarded in his time as the greatest 1. Hawkins: the naval commander who started slave trade from Africa. 2. idleness: laziness, inactivity. 3. sinking: fall. 4. 5. 6. 7. whirlwind: vortex. melting: sweetness. polish: elegance. breeding: education. E. Kean R. Burbage J. Gielgud D. Garrick 38