Dive into an hallucinatory 'riff' on the divided self: Encounter two Hamlets, two Ophelias and lots of Ghosts.
With a profound respect for the classic text and brought to vibrant life by a 26-year-old director and a 21-year-old Hamlet, Thog's Hamlet lets the players share the same floor as the audience, dancing around and through them in a fiercely spirited rendition.

This intimate cinéma verité record of the immersive, subversive 1971stage production captures the dazzling irreverence of the Era with timeless performances that are somehow utterly embedded in their own time. Inspired film direction and editing by René Bonnière with spellbinding cinematography by the legendary Richard Leiterman's 'free camera.'

"I've seen many 'modern' reworkings of Shakespeare...but I've never seen one that stirred me so much as the Thog Hamlet." (Robert Fulford, Editor Saturday Night)

A Thog's Hamlet Working Group Presentation

Streaming until April 04, 2025.

Thog’s Hamlet
(aka The Tragicall Historie of HAMLET Prince of Denmarke)

Stage Director/Text Adaptation/Project Instigator: Steven Bush
Composer/Music Director/Co-Director: George Koumantaros (formerly Taros)
Co-Director/Acting Coach: Jim Bearden
Additional Music: Jim Bearden, Jan Kudelka & Leon (formerly Gary) Stephens

Film Director/Editor: René Bonnière
Cinematographer: Richard Leiterman
Sound Recording: David MacMillan
Assistant Director: Victor Klassen
Assistant Editor: Rod Crawley
Film Produced by Crawley Films Canada
Executive Producer: F.R. “Budge” Crawley

The Performers
Jim Bearden as Bernardo/Ghost/Player King/Sailor/Fortinbras
Chris Bennett as Francisco/Player/2nd Gravedigger
Steven Bush as Polonius & Priest
Bembo Davies as Gravedigger & Norwegian Captain
Bryan Eaton as Laertes/Pyrrhus/Player Usurper
Dan Hennessey as King Claudius
Richard Ireton as Reynaldo/Priam/Osric
Becke Keller as Queen Gertrude
Bill Peden as Marcellus & Guildenstern
Michael (formerly Mike) Rudder as Rosencrantz
Wendy Russell as Hecuba/Ghost & Ophelia groups
Leon (formerly Gary) Stephens as Horatio
Alberta (formerly Susan) Watson as Player Prologue/Ophelia group
with
Linda Butler (formerly Certain) & Jan Kudelka as the two Ophelias
and
Richard (formerly Rick) McKenna & Tove Shere (formerly C.Johnson) as the two Hamlets.

David “Miko” Balser (percussion & voice)
George Koumantaros (formerly Taros) (piano, crowbar, bouzouki & voice)

With thanks to Ann Bannister (formerly Stephens), Eric Bennett, “Friar Tuck” and Victor Klassen for major help developing Thog’s Hamlet onstage.