Have I been here before?
an evening with Robert Wilson
and
Hamlet a monologue
video-documentary film

by William Shakespeare

in English with Italian subtitles

text Wolfgang Wiens, Robert Wilson
concept, direction and cast
Robert Wilson
music Hans-Peter Kuhn

A Special Event for Spoleto 51
realized by Change Performing Arts

Robert Wilson, one of the most important personalities of our time in theatre and visual arts, made his debut at the Festival of Spoleto in 1974 with A letter for Queen Victoria. Thirty-four years later he returns to Spoleto to encounter the festival’s audience and run through – in a sort of lecture-performance – the most important steps of his career. At the end of the rendezvous, the audience can watch the video-documentary film of the performance Hamlet a monologue aka his personal interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic. Produced in 1995 and starring Wilson as the sole protagonist, the show experienced extraordinary success. The international tour lasted 5 years, and travelled through the main theatres worldwide. The strong physical challenge required by the play and the many commitments eventually forced Wilson to give up the show, considered one of the masterpieces of his theatrical poetics. At seven years from its last performance, starting from a few high-definition recordings made in Tokyo and Warsaw, the digital art division of Change Performing Arts has made a video that allows us to see a play that will never again live on stage because deeply bound to the performance of the author/actor who is presently far from such creative season.