Uncovering the Unheard: A Multimedia Performance and Installation Inspired by Ophelia’s Drowning in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Abstract

abstract:Ophelia / Leaves was a performance, spoken word, and sonic/material art installation that reimagined Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy from Act 3, Scene 1, as a portal into the psychic landscape of Ophelia. In developing this “cover” version of the thematic and textual essence of Hamlet, the work was reconvened theatrically according to one specific moment—that of Ophelia’s drowning. From inside the lines, “To be or not to be,” the questions arose: Are being and nonbeing even separate? Of what nature is Ophelia’s wound that speaks from the liminal space within this text? How might the language and experience of Ophelia’s trauma be discovered, and then rendered in performance? In this version of Hamlet, the cover version of the play was used to slip into the work undercover, to approach the process of theater-making as a secretive backdoor strategy in order to unearth content and questions that challenge what and whom the original work might actually be about.