Four hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, it feels like a momentous task to re-shape our understanding of this unshakeable cultural force, but in Hamnet this is masterfully achieved. Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel took the publishing industry by storm, winning the Women’s Prize for Fiction and to date selling more than 1.5 million copies worldwide. It beautifully re-imagines the story of the Shakespeare family across two timelines: the discovery of young Hamnet Shakespeare that his twin sister Judith is ill and the early marriage of Agnes and William Shakespeare. What this story does so well is focus on Agnes, who for centuries has occupied a critic-named ‘wife-shaped void’ in scholarly understanding of the Bard’s life.

I had my doubts about taking this book to the stage. It is a masterpiece of fiction, brimming with beautiful language, characters whose warmth flows off the pages and into your hands, and a narrative style whose depth and breadth is faultless. However my doubts were quickly assuaged. Spear-headed by Lolita Chakrabarti, whose adaptation of Life of Pi won five Olivier awards and has just opened on Broadway, this production is in safe hands. Chakrabarti has a gift for storytelling. Before Hamnet had even opened in Stratford-Upon-Avon, its transfer to London had already been announced. Her ability to capture the beauty of a book’s language and transform it into theatrical greatness is undeniable.

What struck me first was the set. For anyone like myself who has visited Shakespeare’s family home, the structure was instantly recognisable. The wooden cross-beams of the kitchen, the leather hanging from the walls of John Shakespeare’s glove workshop, and the room in the annex which forms an ‘A’ shape: it is all here in lifelike brilliance. A dynamic and ever-shifting set, it allowed for seamless transitions between scenes, as well as between the landscape of Henley Street (the home of the Shakespeares) and Hewlands, where Agnes Hathaway grew up. This play roots itself in the history and the landscape of the West Midlands and it is a joy to see: the birdsong, the smells of countryside herbs floating through the auditorium and, to my delight, strong regional accents. This production does not shy away from dismantling the overwhelmingly London-centric ideas we have of Shakespeare – whilst his plays found their audience in London, Stratford undoubtedly shaped his family and his life.

Madeleine Mantock takes the role of Agnes Shakespeare, and what a role it is. Her performance is outstanding: she commands the stage. Each character responds and reacts to her incredible versatility. In a momentary glance or the turn of her head, we understand shifts in tone and we follow with breath held the journey she takes in her marriage to William Shakespeare. I found particularly moving the birth of her twins where the scene on stage was almost exactly as in the book: Agnes’ fear at realising there is not one baby but two, and her sudden pleas to her mother to look after her children if she dies, was portrayed with heart-wrenching beauty.

In Mantock’s performance, Agnes, forgotten and ignored, takes centre stage with astounding impact. Arguably it is the focus on parenthood, especially motherhood, which makes this play so powerful. Great historical figures become ordinary, held with the same unimaginable horrors we all pray will never reach our own doors: the loss of a child. I have loved Shakespeare since I was a child, but until Hamnet I had never considered him as a father. How his plays might have been shaped by grief, by the loss of his only son and the necessity for him to write about it, is incredibly relevant to the way we think about him in 21^st century scholarship.

Historians don’t know exactly how Hamnet Shakespeare died, but what we do know is that William Shakespeare never wrote about the plague, despite it dominating so much of his theatrical career. Moreover, several years following the death of eleven-year-old Hamnet Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, a tragedy charged with grief, and considered by many his best work. It is impossible now for Hamnet to feel distant: we have survived our own plague and many have lost loved ones. What was previously unimaginable in Shakespeare studies – plague, theatre closures, being forced to isolate in your family home – is now a personal and painful memory for all of us.

This play is timely, relevant, and utterly beautiful. Agnes’ quiet terror at the discovery of her children’s illnesses had myself and many others in tears. The empathy we as an audience have for the Shakespeares and the survivors of the plague has changed drastically in these three years since the first national lockdown. The most difficult and deeply upsetting moment for me was Judith Shakespeare, played by Alex Jarrett, realising her brother was fatally ill, and that she would lose the other half of herself. I thought immediately of my own brothers and the fear I felt for them during lockdown. To lose a sibling is to lose a part of yourself; Jarrett’s performance in this scene was phenomenal.

As this play moves from delighted romance to family feuds and then to bereavement, it moves the audience through untold history. Chakrabarti’s play is a feat of scale, of understanding, and of stunning historical re-imagining. At the very end, as Agnes travels to London to see Hamlet performed, the set is transformed into the familiar stage of the Globe with the balcony and wooden railings folding down into place. This was a stroke of genius and a beautifully emotional ending. Agnes and Will’s moment of shared grief was poignant, peaceful, and a quietly heart-shattering performance. The cast received a well-deserved standing ovation and I have no doubt will continue to do so as audiences share in the story of the Shakespeares. Hamnet’s final plea to his mother is ‘Remember me.’ We will.

Rating: 5/5

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