The fragility of Hamlet on stage in Paris

Following the success of previous seasons, the Opéra national de Paris revives Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas, one of the great masterpieces of nineteenth-century French opera, in Krzysztof Warlikowski's powerful interpretation. Returning to the Opéra Bastille from 18 September to 9 October 2026, the production opens the new season with a staging that reimagines Shakespeare's tragedy as a profoundly contemporary psychological drama. Composed in 1868 to a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier, Hamlet is not a faithful adaptation of Shakespeare's play but a reinterpretation that heightens its emotional and psychological dimensions. Ambroise Thomas focuses on the inner turmoil of the Prince of Denmark and on the tragic fate of Ophélie, whose celebrated mad scene remains one of the defining moments of the French operatic repertoire. Although long overshadowed by the fame of Shakespeare's original, the opera has enjoyed a remarkable revival in recent decades. It is precisely this complexity that Krzysztof Warlikowski explores in his acclaimed production. One of Europe's leading contemporary stage directors, Warlikowski abandons any historical reconstruction in favour of a psychological landscape shaped by memory, family trauma and inner ghosts. Elsinore Castle becomes a space of fractured consciousness where the boundaries between reality and hallucination gradually dissolve. Rather than recounting a royal struggle for power, the production examines the psychological collapse of a man unable to free himself from the weight of the past. In this interpretation, the Ghost of Hamlet's father is no longer merely the catalyst for revenge but the embodiment of unresolved family history, while Gertrude and Claudius acquire a moral complexity that transcends the traditional opposition between innocence and guilt. Ophélie also emerges in a new light: her famous mad scene is transformed from a virtuosic vocal showpiece into the emotional climax of a gradual psychological breakdown, becoming one of the most powerful moments of the entire production. The Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris is conducted by Michael Schønwandt, one of today's foremost interpreters of the European Romantic repertoire, whose reading highlights the richness of Thomas's score, balancing grand choral scenes with intimate lyricism and refined orchestral writing. Performed in French with French and English surtitles, the opera runs for approximately three hours and forty minutes, including one interval.