Hamlet, Revenge of a King, by Herbert Newsome

Authors

Alan F. Hickman University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Abstract

Herbert Newsome's Hamlet, Revenge of a King, a musical updating of Shakespeare's tragedy, was directed by Stephen Broadnax and produced on November 17-19, 2004 at the Hathaway-Howard Fine Arts Center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. The object, according to Newsome, was to make Shakespeare relevant to the hip-hop generation. In his rewriting, New York City substitutes for Denmark, the murder of Hamlet Senior is politically motivated, and Afi Parker (Ophelia) not only sleeps with Hamilton (Hamlet), but also aborts their unborn child. The Bard's soliloquies, furthermore, are replaced by rap arias set to a hip-hop beat.

Author Biography

Alan F. Hickman, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Alan F. Hickman is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in composition and literature. He is a published poet and essayist who has also taught in Germany and Thailand. In 2004, he participated in an NEH Summer Institute entitled "Shakespeare's Playhouses Inside and Out," in Staunton, Virginia, and London, England.