Bernhardt/Hamlet — Queensland Theatre

Overview

Time travel doesn't yet exist, sadly, so no one can step inside a phone booth or a DeLorean and zip back into the past. But if you've always wanted to see what happened when trailblazing French actress Sarah Bernhardt took on Shakespeare's Hamlet at the turn of the 20th century — playing the Danish prince herself, too — you can come as close as possible at Queensland Theatre's Bernhardt/Hamlet between Saturday, May 28–Sunday, June 19.

Stacking icons upon icons, this play by American playwright Theresa Rebeck tells that tale, with Brisbane-born actor Angie Milliken (Death of a Salesman, Passengers) slipping into Bernhardt's shoes. Here, it's Paris in 1899, and Bernhardt faces a question: to be or not to be the scandal-courting woman who dares take on such a famed — and, as penned by the Bard, male — role.

Bringing the real-life backstage story front and centre on the Bille Brown Theatre stage, this show may hark back more than a century; however, its account of a bold woman challenging the status quo and helping cement her place in history in the process will never stop being timely.

Top image: Brett Boardman.