Shakespeare in the Extreme: Addiction, Ghosts, and (Re)Mediation in Alexander Fodor's "Hamlet"

Shot entirely in high-definition digital, premiered at the Cannes film festival, and subsequently released in DVD format with a booklet and extra material, Alexander Fodor's experimental low-budget adaptation of Hamlet (2006) blatantly presents itself as some kind of Shakespeare in the Extreme. Polonius becomes Polonia (Lydia Piechowiak), a scheming femme fatale who would not be out of place in a film noir, and goes as far as to seduce a Reynaldo-turned-Reynalda with luscious cherries and red wine; Ophelia (Tallulah Sheffield) is a drug addict who relies on her elder sister Polonia for her drug supply; Horatio (Katie Reddin- Clancy) switches gender; Laertes (Jason Wing) is a vicious Cockney thug; and the Ghost (James Frail) is omnipresent.