FOR IMMEDIATE MEDIA RELEASE
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

– David Tennant and Sir Patrick Stewart Reprise Their stage Roles as “Hamlet” and “Claudius” in Television Adaptation Coinciding with the Bard of Avon’s 446th Birthday –

Shakespeare’s immortal “To be, or not to be” takes on a whole new meaning (and medium) as classical stage and screen actors David Tennant and (recently knighted) Sir Patrick Stewart reprise their roles for a modern-dress, film-for-television adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) 2008 stage production of Hamlet. GREAT PERFORMANCES “Hamlet” airs Wednesday, April 28, 8:00-11:30 p.m. on WVIZ/PBS.

“Hamlet” aired in the UK on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), when more than 900,000 viewers tuned in for the BBC broadcast. In an article in The Observer, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote, “Like many people, I had my love of Shakespeare reawakened by David Tennant’s TV portrayal of Hamlet … .”

Best known for his performance in the title role of the popular British TV series “Doctor Who” since 2005, Tennant made his debut in October as the host of MASTERPIECE CONTEMPORARY on PBS. His many other credits include his recent portrayal of Barty Crouch Junior in the big-screen blockbuster Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Tennant has also received numerous awards from the theatre community for his lead roles in several Shakespearean productions and other classic plays.

Veteran stage and screen actor Sir Patrick Stewart reprises his 2009 Laurence Olivier Award-winning role of Claudius in the screen version, which is directed by Gregory Doran, who reprises his stage direction of the production.

The adaptation re-creates the tone and atmosphere of the stage production in a film-style interpretation shot in HD on location at St. Joseph’s College in Mill Hill, London.