Hamlet
Lyttelton - National Theatre
4.6/5 based on 21 reviews (read reviews)- Opens: Wednesday, 24 September 2025 -
Booking until: Saturday, 22 November 2025
Hamlet description
Hiran Abeysekera stars in Hamlet at the National Theatre.
There's a brand new production of Shakespeare’s beloved Hamlet on at the National, starring the brilliant Olivier-winning Hiran Abeysekera. The Sri Lankan actor made his professional stage debut with the English Touring Theatre in 2011 playing Valere in Tartuffe, the start of an extraordinary career. He joined the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 2012, playing Bartholomew in The Taming of the Shrew. 2015 saw him play Peter Pan in the West End and he starred in a movie version of Puck with the RSC in 2016. He has also played Posthumus in Cymbeline and Horatio in Hamlet, eventually winning the Olivier for Best Actor for his role in the stage adaptation of Life of Pi. The list goes on.
This time around Hiran Abeysekera stars as Hamlet himself. The new production is directed by the National’s new Deputy Artistic Director Robert Hastie (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Operation Mincemeat). The 2024 Ian Charleson Award-winner and 2025 Ian Charleson Award nominee Francesca Mills plays Ophelia, with Alistair Petrie as Claudius. Ayesha Dharker plays Gertrude, Geoffrey Streatfeild is Polonius, and Hari MacKinnon plays Rosencrantz, with Phil Cheadle as Marcellus, Siobhan Redmond as First Player, and Tom Glenister as Laertes. The set and costume designer is Ben Stones, with lighting designer Jessica Hung Han Yun, sound designer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite, and casting directors Alastair Coomer CDG and Martin Poile CDG completing the creative team.
Hamlet is always hugely popular. It was first produced on the South Bank way back in in 1976. This time around the word on the streets says it's a sharp, stylish, darkly funny, fearless contemporary version of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Great drama never dies. Grab your Hamlet at the National Theatre tickets for a fresh new take on a play that has been thrilling audiences for four hundred and twenty five years.
Playing at Lyttelton - National Theatre
Age restrictions
Ages 12+.
Important information
This production contains themes of grief and death, including suicide and the loss of a parent, depictions of madness, violence, and coercive behaviour.
Performance Times
Hamlet news
28Mar