Interview: Yuri Behari-Leak talks about his gender swapped adaptation of Hamlet set in the film industry

Yuri Behari-Leak who is directing a gender-swapped adaption of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Masque in Muizenberg, Cape Town, gives insights into theatrical and design choices.  Behari-Leak’s Hamlet is a female film director and is not a misogynist but is “critical towards the men in her life based on her experience of having had more positive female role models in the film industry and her family.” Most of the roles have been gender-swapped which opens up the opportunity to “explore the nuances and dynamics of female friendships”, says Behari-Leak. “Hamlet becomes the ‘writer/director’ of her own story and expression of feminism.” And there is much to consider around “retributive justice” versus “restorative justice” in this production. Read on for more about this intriguing adaption which is on May 9 -17, 2025:

TheCapeRobyn: What made you choose the film industry as a space for this adaption? Your Hamlet is “a young director at a modern film production studio”. Is the production set in Cape Town, specifically?

Yuri Behari-Leak: I wanted to explore the question of how we hold onto our own identity in a world where appearance often eclipses reality, especially in a world dominated by social media, artificial intelligence, and capitalist consumerism. The film industry setting was apt because filmmaking is a powerful and visceral art form in representing appearance as reality. Just as Hamlet invites those around her to believe in her ‘antic disposition’ of madness and her production of The Murder of Gonzago, filmmaking is all about using cinema’s immersive audio-visual language to create a certain representation as reality. But accepting or denying this reality speaks to our identity, beliefs and values. The film industry setting also amplifies power dynamics, hierarchies and politics reminiscent of the original text, while exploring fame and celebrity/cancel culture enriches the characters’ motivations, and their ethical and moral dilemmas. And no, the adaptation is not set in Cape Town specifically.

TCR: Can you talk about positioning of Hamlet as a female film director?

YBL: As a university graduate of Psychology and Film & Television Studies, I have been deeply interested in feminist film theory and de-colonial feminism and in how transforming our cinematic representations of women can challenge societal patterns of inequality, sexism, misogyny and gender-based violence. This critical awareness has influenced my own experience and positionality as a male filmmaker. Positioning Hamlet as a female director enables her to resist and challenge gender roles, GBV and the patriarchy, and to actively construct and represent what being a woman means to her. Hamlet becomes the ‘writer/director’ of her own story and expression of feminism. While our adaptation certainly acknowledges how women have been oppressed and marginalised in the film industry, this positioning of Hamlet also honours the female filmmakers who have strived to make the film industry a more inclusive, equitable, and empowering creative space for all by raising our critical awareness and engagement.

RYC: You say that Hamlet “grapples with her own identity and morality” as she tries to find justice of the “perpetrator of gender-based violence to justice” and trying to stay “on a feminist path”. Shortly “before the premiere of her latest film” Hamlet tries to avenge her mother’s death.” Can you expand on that – the narrative that you are bringing in to the Bard’s play?

YBL: In this adaptation, Hamlet’s mother is now Cassandra (the Ghost) – named after the princess and priestess from Greek mythology. Claudius is Hamlet’s father, and Gertrude is Cassandra’s sister and Hamlet’s aunt. The gender-based violence narrative in this adaptation mirrors the sceptre of sexual abuse in the film industry as exposed by the #MeToo movement. Claudius plays a ‘Harvey Weinstein figure’ who perpetuates institutional patterns of GBV at Elsinore Denmark Productions. Hamlet’s indecisiveness in the original text thus takes on a broader meaning – it is not just about one character’s individual struggle, but also about how the film industry and society at large should respond to systemic GBV. Hamlet’s ‘antic disposition’ is her grappling with whether she should embrace a patriarchal path of retributive justice, violence and death, or a more feminist path of restorative justice that could lead to wider and longer-lasting institutional, systemic and societal change.

RYC: Can you talk about how the gender swapping shifts the dynamics of the protagonists? And the misogyny of Hamlet, for instance when he berates his mother, Gertrude “Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman”.

YBL: We’ve changed some character relationships here. Gertrude is now Hamlet’s aunt and Claudius is now Hamlet’s father. Following Cassandra’s death, Claudius remarried her sister Gertrude who becomes Hamlet’s aunt and step-mother. Bringing Claudius and Hamlet characters closer together on the family tree heightens the tension and severity of the gender-based violence narrative, shows how deeply ingrained patterns of GBV can be, and adds further layers to the characters’ psychologies and motivations. 0However, in Hamlet’s berating of Gertrude, we also explore narratives of victim-blaming in the context of GBV. This further complicates Hamlet’s relationship with and understanding of women, and acknowledges how women may have entangled, complex and non-linear relationships to these issues.

RYC: You have eight female performers and two male performers. Can you give insights into the placing of the other protagonists as male or female? In the recent production of the Tempest at Maynardville, Prospero was a female- Prospera but Miranda remained Miranda – the daughter – so I am wondering how you are positioning your protagonists in this Hamlet?

YBL: The gender-swapping allows us to explore different representations of womanhood and feminism while staying true to the essence of the original characters. Claudius and Gertrude are the only characters who retain their original genders. We explore the nuances and dynamics of female friendships with Horatia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as women. Through having Laertes and Polonius as women, we comment on how, in male-dominated settings like the film industry, the patriarchy pits women against each other, and how women can also be complicit in systems of patriarchy and gender-based violence through masculinising themselves to survive in such settings. Retaining Gertrude’s original gender as a woman enables exploration into the dichotomy of ‘victim/survivor’ in the context of GBV. Having Ophelio as a man also allows commentary on the ‘Hollywood heartthrob’ archetype and its relationship to fame, celebrity, and external validation.

RYC: Can you give insights into the set design and costumes and how you have configured the world of the film industry in your production?

YBL: Denmark and Elsinore Castle have been adapted into ‘Elsinore Denmark Productions’, a production company founded by Claudius and Cassandra. As such, the set design has been built around the concept of a film studio instead of the traditional Shakespearean halls, chambers, and courtyards. The main events of the play revolve around the premiere of Hamlet’s latest film The Murder of Gonzago and the set has been designed to bring this world to life. The set shows the interplay between traditional Shakespearean settings and their propensity for contextualisation in the current day. Similarly, our costume design has been configured to fit in the world of a modern film studio through the characters that play directors, movie stars, producers, and filmmakers.

RYC: How long is your production? Have you cut the text significantly? Do the actors use their own accents?

YBL: Our production is approximately two hours long, including an interval. ‘Hamlet’ is Shakespeare’s longest play and the text has been edited and amended significantly to keep it at a manageable length while also adapting the story to the modern film industry setting. The actors use their own accents as I did not want to limit the play and its message to any particular place or time period, which is true to the timeless appeal of Shakespearean works.

✳ Yuri Behari-Leak is directing and has adapted a gender-swapped Hamlet, Masque, Cape Town, May 9 -17, 2025.