MEDIATHEK

The world premiere took place at Hamlets Castle/Kronborg during the international Shakespeare festival 2016.

Hamlet in Absentia is a grotesque, yet humorous paraphrase over Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which madness is seen from the perspective of today's diagnostic society.
 
The music by the Icelandic composer Hugi Gudmundsson is both lyrical and dramatic in its interpretation of Jakob Weis's poetic-cum-rap libretto, which grapples with the concept of normality.
 
Synopsis:

Everyone says Ophelia is mad. She can no longer speak, but has started to sing. She seeks out a therapist to get a diagnosis. Together they release Ofelia's inner demons. Her beloved Hamlet has killed Polonius and her brother Laertes is on a quest for vengeance. At the same time, Claudius and Gertrud are going through intense relationship counselling, where accusations fly in all directions.  Gertrud loves her son more than anything, but Hamlet is a thorn in the side of Claudius. While everyone else sorts out existential crises, the man at the heart of all this, Hamlet, is conspicuous by his absence.