Hamlet in the park

A Company of Fools will present Shakespeare’s iconic play Hamlet this summer outdoors in local parks from July 3 to August 26.

The company will perform during an eight-week tour of more than 40 parks across Ottawa and beyond. This fast-paced, 90-minute rendition of the bard’s greatest tragedy will feature disemboweled puppets, a sword fight to the death, live underscoring and five actors taking on 15 different roles.

Join the Fools this summer as they delve the depths of the human experience and have a few laughs along the way. Whether you’re a Shakespeare nerd or this is your first foray with the bard since high school, their foolish take on Hamlet has something for everyone.

WHEN: July 3 – August 26

TIME: Monday – Saturday at 7 p.m.

GLEBE SHOWS: Patterson’s Creek on Friday, August 4;

Windsor Park on Saturday, July 8 and Saturday, August 26.

COST: Pay what you can, with a suggested donation of $20 per person.

You may not recall the story quite this way. Returning home to attend her father’s funeral, Hamlet discovers that another ceremony has already taken place: the marriage of her mother to her uncle. That’s right, her dead father’s brother. When Hamlet is visited by her father’s ghost demanding that she avenge his murder, Hamlet begins to wonder – is it she who has gone mad or everyone around her?

The play takes place in a fairytale-inspired Elsinor, an extravagant kingdom ruled by the freshly crowned King Claudius. But don’t let its decadent appearance fool you, there’s something rotten in this fairytale wonderland.

Reimagined to feature a female Hamlet, the play portrays her feigned madness as a rejection of feminine expectations and an attempt to free herself from a fake world. This is the story of a quest for justice that exposes what happens when a young woman challenges authority.

A Company of Fools is Ottawa’s long-running professional Shakespeare theatre company.