Okada Masaki as ‘Hamlet’ (2019), directed by Simon Godwin

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Yep, I used the REAL promotional poster as the background! (source)

Year 2019 is going to be a very busy year for Okada Masaki, at least theatre-wise. Earlier in July this year, we learned that he is going to portray Terrence Lavery in the thriller/horror theatrical production of ‘Bracken Moor’. The production will be performed in Bunkamura Tokyo from 14 August 2019, thus Masaki will celebrate his 30th birthday on stage (his birthday is on 15 August). Then last week, we learned that Masaki is adding another theatre production to his 2019 agenda. This time, the play is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, ‘Hamlet’. More significantly, the director is Brits Simon Godwin, the Artistic Director of the US-based Shakespeare Theatre Company. I am not sure how many Shakespearean dramas performed by all-Japanese cast were directed by a Shakespearean director, but Simon Godwin is certainly seen as a prominent figure in the Shakespeare world. His recent work on Anthony and Cleopatra (starring Ralph Fiennes) was met with critical acclaims.

(note: see my footnote at the end of the article for other all-Japanese cast Shakespeare plays)

Simon Godwin, the new Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company
(photo by Johan Persson)


Thus, Hamlet is a BIG DEAL for Okada Masaki. Having him trained and directed by Simon Godwin himself is even a BIGGER DEAL.

「ハムレット」はとっても面白いキャラクターです。賢いな、複雑な、復讐した、倫理的な、忠実な、情熱的な王子さまんです。来年、岡田将生の「ハムレット」はぜひ面白いと思います。


(okay, the photo is from Chiisana Kyojin, but you got the idea)

You see, in recent years Okada Masaki has collected a good portfolio of complex characters as a result of his hard work. It might have started way back in 2011 when he played the antihero Young Black Jack, followed by a multifaceted Minamoto no Yoritomo (Taira no Kiyomori 2012). However, Masaki had to wait for two years before playing another non-goofy character in Hakugin Jack (2014, as a co-star of Watanabe Ken). Recently, I would attribute Masaki’s chance to play more complex characters to his roles as Aoki Ikkō (Himitsu Top Secret 2016), Miyamoto Takayoshi (Nanimono 2016), and more noticeably Yamada Haruhiko (Chiisana Kyojin 2017) and Nijimura Keichō (Jojo Diamonds are Unbreakable 2017). His role as Hachidaime Yūrakutei Yakumo in Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū (NHK 2018) has cemented his image as a serious actor. Masaki’s four theatrical performances (Total Eclipse 2014, Go-go Boys Gogo Heaven 2014, Women in Black 2015 and my favourite Ningen Gowasan 2018) would have convinced the Hamlet producers of his love to the theatre world (and you better get an actor who loves theatres to play Hamlet, because movies and theatres are not the same).

(I have put short Twitter videos of selected Okada Masaki's performances at the end of this article)

In short, Okada Masaki didn’t get the role of Hamlet out of the blue. He got it because of his hard work and him expressing his desire to work on challenging projects, including more theatrical performances.

But what does playing Hamlet entail here?

(Watch the YouTube below and follow its associated videos for the Hamlet summaries by act and scene)



Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and most complicated characters to play. A Danish prince, he was hurled into revenge when he realised that his father (King Hamlet) was murdered by his uncle Claudius (the current King of Denmark), instead of killed by a snake in his sleep, as per the popular belief. On top of that, Hamlet’s mother Queen Getrude showed no reluctance in marrying Claudius right after her husband died, which added salt to Hamlet’s wound. Oh, and let’s not forget that Denmark was at war with Norway.

Thus, at the start of the story, Hamlet’s kingdom was definitely in tether, which definitely didn’t help in Hamlet’s personal quest to win Ophelia, a girl of his dream who unfortunately had possessive brother and father.

All of these plots created a complicated Hamlet to play by any actor. Indeed, one most famous characteristics of Hamlet is that he was mad. As in: crazy, deranged. But it was really just a ploy Hamlet used to divert Claudius’ attention from Hamlet’s mission to uncover his uncle’s crime. Far from being ‘crazy’, Hamlet was a loyal son to his honoured father. Upon learning of his father’s murder, Hamlet’s main mission was to revenge King Hamlet’s death at any price. It was also the reason of Hamlet’s dislike of his mother due to Queen Getrude’s immediate marriage to Claudius.



Hamlet was a loyal son. He was also rather religious. Several times, he contemplated suicide, but he didn't pursue that thought because he reflected upon its consequences.  He was quite vengeful though. Hamlet wanted Claudius to pay for his sins so bad, such that the Prince didn't want to kill a praying Claudius because he feared Claudius would be accepted by Heaven if he was murdered while praying. He wanted Claudius' death and he wanted his uncle to go to Hell, not to Heaven (Act 3 Scene 3).


(Edit 12 Nov 2018: I previously wrote this paragraph below, but since then I realised that the reason for Hamlet not killing the praying Claudius was not of his ethical standards. Hence I deleted this paragraph:

 Loyal and revengeful, yet Hamlet is also an ethical person. He got a chance to kill his uncle when the latter was praying, but Hamlet’s morality prevented the prince from doing so, adding another layer to the prince’s character.)


Hamlet was also a lover, a prince in love who was devastated when he realised that 1) he accidentally killed Polonius, Ophelia’s father because he mistook the latter as Claudius, and 2) Ophelia committed suicide when she learned of her father’s death.

Hamlet was a very smart and creative prince as well. He orchestrated a play (‘The Murder of Gonzago’) so that he could witness a flicker of emotion in Claudius’ body language. He also, as I wrote above, acted as if he were crazy to throw off Claudius’ suspicion. In doing so, Hamlet had to engage in convoluted conversations with, among others, Polonius, who himself had the knack of speaking in a meandering and convoluted manner. I think Hamlet also had an intense debate with another person (perhaps Claudius) and emerged as a winner.


All of these aspects of Hamlet necessitate a very good acting skill. So that you know, Benedict Cumberbatch was one of the latest actors who played Hamlet, and he was preceded by, among others, Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music, anyone?), Derek Jacobi (Prince Kit's father in Cinderella 2015), Jude Law and Paapa Esseidu (who portrayed the first black Hamlet in 143 years to critical acclaims). Despite some critics who said that Benedict’s Hamlet was “too nice”, most of us who have seen his work in Imitation Game, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes and even the older Amazing Grace and Starter for Ten would concede that Cumberbatch is an amazing actor. Check this (42 min long) video of Cumberbatch about Hamlet.




And more than 20 years ago in 1996, Kenneth Branagh, a very prominent actor and director, was Hamlet himself. I once watched Kenneth's Hamlet but it was years ago that I forgot about the detail. However,  I understand Branagh's Hamlet received critical acclaims and is now considered a classic. From the snippet of his "To be or not to be" below, I can understand why.




These are the challenges that face Okada Masaki in playing Shakespeare’s (and Simon Godwin’s) Hamlet next year. Masaki will play a complex character who was written by one of the most famous writers in Earth’s history, a character who has been played by many famous actors, a character who utters so many famous lines.

(click this video for an excellent video that analyses 10 most important quotes from 'Hamlet'):



Yes, the dialogs will be in Japanese because it’s an all-Japanese cast for Japanese audience, so it's very likely that we won’t hear “To be or not to be, that is the question” in English. Most likely, Godwin will retain it to be uttered in Japanese, thus 「生きるべきか死ぬべきか、それが問題だ」or `Ikirubeki ka shinubeki ka, sore ga mondaida' will be uttered instead. If it were me, I would make the style even more polite ('da' is not the politest way to end a sentence; 'desu' is more polite; 'gozaimasu' is even more polite) to mirror the Shakespearean feeling. Go with the Heian (or even Kamakura or Edo) style of Japanese narration, if you ask me, because that would be closer to the antiquated feeling of old English.

Again, the photo is from Chiisana Kyojin (blame Yamada!), but the quote is 100% Shakespeare


However, those who are familiar with Hamlet will expect an array of emotions; the recognisable and yet unpredictable emotions of a ‘mad man’, the love and regrets of a lover, emotions of a vengeful prince and a faithful son, the moral dillema of an ethical person, and so on and so forth.

Would Okada Masaki be able to portray those emotions?

I think he will.

Let’s see. Playing a lover is rather easy; Masaki has quite a lot of past works for that. However, playing a remorseful lover... well, I think we have only Narimichi (Raiō 2010), Yoritomo (2012, with respect to his star-crossed love with Yae-hime) and Yakumo. Playing a conflicted person, he has Keichō, Yamada and Yakumo as the past experiences. Playing a chatterbox madman, well, Masaki was a chatterbox in Fubenna Benriya 2015, although I wouldn’t call that funny series a serious series. Playing a tactician: Yamada Haruhiko (duh!) and Minamoto no Yoritomo. Playing a man with a mission: again Yamada, Keichō, Aoki and Yoritomo.

So, Okada Masaki has the basis to work on Hamlet. There are more works to be done, but he certainly has the basis.


(this video excellently explains five key features of a Shakespearean play; Hamlet is used as one of the examples)



Now, to inject the Shakespearean feeling into the production, Director Simon Godwin has to work hard with his Japanese cast for that. To that end, I think they should stick with the classical Elizabethan costumes, instead of making it a modern costume or even a Japanese costume production. The taste of Shakespeare can still be retained in a production utilising modern clothing and setting (Kenneth Brannagh’s 2016 Romeo and Juliet was such an example) if the actors still speak the classical Shakespearean lines. However, it’s a safe assumption that the Japanese Godwin production will not use English at all. If the production uses the modern clothing or Japanese costumes, the Shakespearean sense will be lost, if not drastically reduced. Hence, it makes sense if Godwin would retain the Elizabethan costumes in this production (while hopefully asking the dialogs to be translated into Heian/Edo style narrations whenever appropriate).


(note 19.12.2018: See my footnote for more thoughts about the Heian/Edo Shakespeare play. I am apparently wrong. A Heian/Edo Macbeth was apparently beautiful...)


But there are more elements that need to be injected to make Okada Masaki’s Hamlet a Hamlet. I don’t know what they are, but knowing Masaki, he’d be reading the unabridged version of Hamlet right now, translated as it is (possibly this one).

So much work to do... but I’m so excited about this production. I hope the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Bunkamura will make another announcement before the new year so we can see the direction of this production.

‘Hamlet’ will play in Theatre Cocoon Bunkamura Tokyo 9 May to 2 June 2019 and at the Morinomiya Piloti Hall Osaka 7-11 June 2019. Let me know if you want to go to Tokyo or Osaka with me.


Update 31 Oct 2018:

I noticed that some Shakespeare readers, thus most likely those unaware of Okada Masaki's works, have read this article. For you (and for the rest of us too), these are some examples of Okada Masaki's works that I've mentioned above.


Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū (NHK 2018)



Chiisana Kyojin (TBS 2017)


Chiisana Kyojin (TBS 2017)


Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (2017)


Fuben na Benriya (The Inconvenient Handymen, 2015)


Taira no Kiyomori (NHK 2012)


Taira no Kiyomori (NHK 2012)


Taira no Kiyomori (NHK 2012)


Update 18 Dec 2018

Just after finishing the glowing Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū, Okada Masaki has jumped to the wagon of Hamlet preparation. Today, Simon Godwin et al. have released the promotional posters below. Although I'm disappointed that Masaki isn't going to wear Elizabethan or other period drama clothing, the visuals are beautiful that I'm comforted enough to enjoy it. Just look at his gorgeous hair OMG! And Kuroki Haru's Ophelia's swirling hair filling the bottom left corner...




The costume designer is Soutra Gilmour, a nominee for the 2013 Tony Awards for the Best Costume Design in a Play. I'm starting to get hooked on Masaki's gorgeous dark blue suit with his zipper collar...








The cast I know so far are Kuroki Haru (黒木華) as Ophelia (Hamlet’s lover), Fukui Kiichi (福井貴一) as King Claudius (Hamlet's uncle and mortal enemy), Matsuyuki Yasuko (松雪泰子) as Queen Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother), Yamazaki Hajime (山崎一) as Polonius (Ophelia's father), Shō Aoyagi (青柳翔) as Ophelia's bro Laertes (he hates Hamlet to the core) and Murakami Nijiro (村上虹郎) plays Fortinbras (the Prince of Norway).


Footnote 19 Dec 2018:

Earlier in this article, I said I didn't know how many all-Japanese cast Shakespearean plays there were.

Now I know I was a fool. The late Director Ninagawa Yukio-san 蜷川幸雄 directed Hamlet EIGHT times during his career. Ninagawa-san's works were (and still are) internationally recognised; many of them were performed overseas. I want to see his Macbeth (all-Japanese cast with the kimono and all the shebangs and lead actor Ichimura Masachika), but I didn't even know his name when he died in 2016...





I will write another article just for Ninagawa-san's work, but I just want to say I'm sorry. I didn't know, I was ignorant, of his great works.

I'm still thrilled that Okada Masaki is now working with Simon Godwin. However, I now realise that a Japanese Macbeth directed by a Japanese director was also glorious in its own rights... and I wish I were there to see it...



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