MADC’s ‘Hamlet’ comes to the bastions

Director and designer Michael Mangion shares how the new home for MADC’s open-air Shakespeare play, the Msida Bastion Historic Garden, has changed the experience

Anyone who has watched one of MADC’s summertime Shakespeare plays understands the difference setting can make. While the company’s decades-long tradition is typically staged at San Anton Gardens, this year, due to reno­vation works, MADC has moved its outdoor Hamlet to Msida Bastion Historic Garden. For director and designer Michael Mangion, the new venue has changed far more than the view.

“Msida Bastion Historic Garden carries a weight that feels almost Shakespearean in itself,” he says.

“It’s a fortified garden built on layers of history, with centuries of occupation embedded in its walls. That sense of siege, of a world under pressure, speaks directly to what Hamlet is about.”

Read more about the show on Times2.

 

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