‘Deutschland ist Hamlet’:
Germany’s Shakespeare
Andrew Dickson Guardian Theatre Editor
When the poet Friedrich Freilingrath claimed in 1844 that “Germany is Hamlet”, it was more than a lament for his country’s political indecision – it hinted at the eerily vivid presence Shakespeare has in German political and literary culture. Germany is not only home to the world’s most august Shakespeare society, the Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft; it also stages more professional Shakespeare than any other country in the world, the UK included. This lecture follows a journey from Gdásnk in Poland (formerly Danzig), where English actors were perhaps the first to take Shakespeare’s work abroad during his lifetime, to Weimar, the centre of Germany’s romantic literary cult. It also touches on the sometimes troubling relationship between Shakespeare and German politics, which came to a head during the Third Reich.
Part of the ‘Worlds Elsewhere’ Lecture Tour
All staff and students welcome
Wine reception to follow
