Traditionally, Hamlet has never fared very happily in France. Though many a good French writer has tried to translate that least Gallic of poems, the first to make a first-rate job of it was Hamlet-like André Gide. Last week Gide's translation was superbly presented on the stage. Long before all the brilliance of Paris rose to cheer the play's swift, incisive three and a half hours, it was clear that tradition was dead & buried. From now on Hamlet was going to be happy in Paris.
The tone, in large measure, remained Elizabethan. Costumes were...
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