'|Y]oung Hamlet' Shakespeare for Swedish Children

Shakespeare's Hamlet has been retold in children's versions several times in Sweden in recent years. It was the subject of the first episode of the children's television programme Pa teatern [At the Theatre], written and directed by Christina Nilsson for SVT in 2001-2002, where Shakespearean actors meet their child or grandchild backstage after a performance to tell and partly enact the story of the play. In 2005-2006, Lotta Grut wrote the plays Lille Hamlett och spoket [Little Hamlett and the Ghost] and Offelia kom igen! [Offelia Come Again!] for the theatre company Unga Roma. In these fairy-tale versions, the children Hamlet and Ophelia are confronted with death, grief, anger, oppression and erasure. This article argues that the Pa teatern episode is an adaptation of Hamlet while Grut's two plays are appropriations.

Automated summary

Hamlet by Shakespeare has been adapted into children's versions multiple times in Sweden, such as the TV programme Pa teatern [At the Theatre] in 2001-2002 and the plays Little Hamlett and the Ghost and Offelia Come Again! in 2005-2006. The article argues that the Pa teatern episode is an adaptation while the plays by Grut are appropriations.