Hamlet: Globe to Globe
193,000 Miles, 197 Countries, One Play
Dominic Dromgoole
“The play was underway, swords were out, tension bristled the air”
Available as Paperback, eBook
Hamlet Globe to Globe takes readers across all seven continents on a fascinating journey into the world of Shakespeare, Hamlet and the stage. From Dominic Dromgoole, former Artistic Director of The Globe Theatre
NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2017
Over two full years, Dromgoole, the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the Globe players toured all seven continents, and almost 200 countries, performing the Bard’s most famous play. They set their stage in sprawling refugee camps, grand Baltic palaces and heaving marketplaces - despite food poisoning in Mexico, an Ebola epidemic in West Africa and political upheaval in Ukraine.
Hamlet: Globe to Globe tells the story of this unprecedented theatrical adventure, in which Dromgoole shows us the world through the prism of Shakespeare’s universal drama, and asks how a 400-year-old tragedy can bring the world closer together.
“Richly entertaining … His love of language is contagious … the storytelling segues into scholarship with extraordinary skill from the off as he ricochets the modern world with a 400-year-old text”
the Times
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“Taking in sandblown refugee camps, the hallucinatory effects of performing with chronic food poisoning in Mexico City and the politically-charged atmosphere of an auditorium in Ukraine on an election’s eve, it is an entertaining, moving and informative read”
evening Standard
“Dromgoole’s witty account offers insight about the play and its enduring appeal”
new York Times, 100 Notable Books Of 2017
“Full of life lessons … Erudite and fascinating … There’s a real sense of the camaraderie and sheer fun of assembling a company and, quite literally, putting the show on wherever they can … The universal themes explored in the play take on a new and thrilling resonance, as the actors learn as much from their audiences as vice versa … Truly compelling”
observer
“A delightfully idiosyncratic account of the Globe’s vagabond mission to perform Hamlet in every country in the world … the joy of the book is Dromgoole’s gusto … the way he meanders from personal anecdote to wider textual or cultural significance makes his book feel like a shaggy-dog documentary that you just don’t want to end ****”
daily Telegraph
Dominic Dromgoole
Dominic Dromgoole was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London from 2006 to 2016. He is the author of The Full Room: An A-Z of Contemporary Playwriting and of Will and Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life, which won the inaugural Sheridan Morley prize. He regularly contributes to the Sunday Times and other publications.
Watch Dominic Dromgoole and actors from the Globe to Globe tour discuss the book.