'HAMLET' IN THE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOM OF CHILDREN FROM INGMAR BERGMAN’S 'FANNY & ALEXANDER'

Abstract

Writer and film director Ingmar Bergman harvests ingredients from the realm of Hamlet, the thought-provoking play written by William Shakespeare, to season his celebrated work Fanny & Alexander, which rises and drops the theatre curtain in the life of the Ekdahl family. These fictional Swedish actors from the twentieth century wander from order to chaos, from misfortune to joy and bliss. Bergman’s fascination with the canonical English playwright begets his original, multifaceted creation ―a written text, film and TV series―, intended to be staged. The author also interweaves an enriching intertext between his own work and Shakespeare’s tragedy, while nourishing the symbiosis between their respective protagonists: a Swedish boy and the Danish prince. By banishing any intention to imitate Hamlet, Fanny & Alexander glorifies their common notion of the theatre within the theatre, explores human nature and prioritizes the Shakespearian evolution of its characters and events.