Join us Thursday, September 18th at 7pm for a discussion of Hamlet and Memory, led by Dr. Pano Kanelos. Event will be held at Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, at 414 St. Stephens School Rd, Austin, TX, in the Mt. Tabor Community Center.
We plan to 'hit the ground running', so please come prepared by having read or watched the play. Especially if you are new to Shakespeare or if it has been a few years, we recommend reading the play while simultaneously listening to a read-aloud recording. Hearing the words is the most powerful way to understand them.
There are many options for listening to the full play: LibriVox offers many free recordings that can be found on YouTube, and Audible has full-length audiobooks of Hamlet for sale.
In terms of film versions (and filmed stage productions), there are also many free versions available on YouTube. Most of them will be abridged, and some abridged versions (like Lawrence Olivier's) omit substantial parts of the story. Consider giving the play a read after watching an abridged version for this reason. Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film is unabridged and high production quality. Many also enjoy the film adaptations starring Mel Gibson or Derek Jacobi.
Some who are new to Shakespeare appreciate the No Fear Shakespeare edition's side-by-side translation, with the 'contemporary translation' on the opposite page from the original text. Others more enjoy an edition like Folger, which just features plentiful footnotes. In the end, most any edition will do.
Resources like CliffsNotes can be helpful if used to get summaries for the first one or two acts, as this can build some 'momentum' to understand what's going on.