Diagnostic: Hamlet

The Spanish company Pelmànec presents Diagnostic: Hamlet at Festival international des arts de la marionnette à Saguenay.

A troubled young man, a blowsy mother, a naive young girl, and Max –dressed in the uniform of the asylum. One actor, playing not only himself, but all four characters. A mesmerising combination of visual imagery, film, astounding puppetry and emotionally charged acting.

Max wants to be Hamlet. He wants Shakespeare to make decisions for him, speak for him. He wants to be liberated from his pain and his fear through the words of one of the most complex and analyzed characters in literature. And so, day after day, he reimagines his life: to be a producer, to be a puppeteer encouraging and controlling the nightmares that haunt him. But the brain is perverse, sooner or later we must all face the great truth: life is uncertainty. Virtuosic Catalan actor and puppeteer Miquel Gallardo adds a thought provoking and moving layer to Shakespeare’s exploration of a character full of confusion.