From creating spaces to evoking images: 4 + 1 Hamlets in Slovak theatre

This paper reflects upon staging Hamlet in Slovakia from 1950 to 2004. The five selected productions brought seemingly different designs of the theatrical space. And yet in four of them, there were many similarities in terms of mimetic understanding of the space. There was only one, nearly unnoticed production in the Rusyn language (2004) building a completely different space: based upon sophisticated visual principles derived from Spanish and Dutch Golden Age paintings, inviting the audience to read Hamlet as a contemplation on a highly performative society.