Robert Icke's HAMLET and ORESTEIA Come to Park Avenue Armory in June

From June through August, Park Avenue Armory will present the North American premieres of Robert Icke's award-winning modern adaptations of William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Aeschylus' Oresteia, performed in repertory in the grand Wade Thompson Drill Hall.

Directed and interpreted by the Olivier Award-winning Icke-acclaimed for his intelligent and accessible productions and his ability to bring fresh, new perspectives to classical texts-the productions will feature Alex Lawther (The Imitation Game, The Last Duel, The French Dispatch, Black Mirror) in Hamlet as the brooding protagonist, and Lia Williams (The Crown, His Dark Materials), who returns to Oresteia in her Olivier-nominated role as Klytemnestra and will perform as Gertrude in Hamlet.

The productions, which originated at the internationally acclaimed Almeida Theatre in London, will be presented in repertory for 11 weeks at the Armory and performed by a single British company.

Both productions use video elements and dynamic stage design to examine the psychological impacts of grief and retribution, and will play on alternating evenings with previews beginning June 1 for Hamlet and June 9 for Oresteia.

Icke's Hamlet and Oresteia originated at the internationally acclaimed Almeida Theatre, which was founded in 1979 by Audi. At the Armory, the productions will play in repertory for the first time, allowing audiences to experience the throughlines and connections Icke explores in his pairing of these classic dramas-depicting two epic family sagas written over 2,000 years apart-which will be performed by the same cast. In his adaptations, Icke bridges antiquity and the contemporary to create worlds that enhance the psychological drama in classic texts; he blurs the lines between public and private life in Hamlet, and heightens courtroom tensions in Oresteia.

Hamlet and Oresteia are part of Park Avenue Armory's full 2022 season. Additional upcoming Drill Hall programming at the Armory includes: the North American premiere of Grawemeyer Awardwinning Upload (March 22-30, 2022), a critically heralded new opera by composer, director, and librettist Michel van der Aa featuring soprano Julia Bullock and baritone Roderick Williams; Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) (September 27-October 8, 2022), a new commission by musician and composer Tyshawn Sorey that pays homage to Morton Feldman's iconic composition for the dedication of Houston's Rothko Chapel 50 years ago, with director Peter Sellars reimagining the work with a new staging designed for the Drill Hall featuring works by visual artist Julie Mehretu; the debut of an Armory-commissioned immersive film installation, Euphoria (November 30-January 1, 2023), by German video and film artist Julian Rosefeldt that takes aim at the destructive potential of capital, money, greed, and consumption, featuring original music composed by Samy Moussa and performed by an ensemble of jazz drummers and singers from the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Tickets sold separately for each production. For a full schedule of performances, please visit armoryonpark.org.

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