So, I've visited the settings of 14 out of 21* Shakespeare plays set in real places outside of the UK, and I thought I might share some of my thoughts

(I'm visiting Harfleur in a week so I might update this post afterwards) -

I'd say only three of those are both really worth visiting & worth visiting for the Shakespeare stuff-

3. Helsingør, Denmark-

If you're in Denmark, I'd definitely recommend it as a day trip from Copenhagen!

Kronborg Castle aka Elsinore: The top thing a Shakespeare fan would be interested in.

It's very well preserved and very much restored (which can be either a plus or a minus. Personally, I usually prefer minimal restoration, that is clearly distinguished from the original parts, but as it was in use by the Danish army until the 20th century, it was kind of inevitable, ig).

It's very interactive and would be fantastic to visit with children! They are currently doing little adapted scenes from Hamlet in the yard and the great hall, which are funny and fun. (My favorite parts were: "What the fuck, Ophelia", Hamlet asking you to stab Claudius if you find him during an orgy so he'll go to hell, and (the narrator) "Laertes came back from France" (Laertes) "Baguette baguette".). There's a 10% discount if you buy tickets online (18 instead of 20 euros). Children up to 18 get in for free, so for a family it really does seem great.

For a solo adult? Honestly idk if going inside is really worth the money, there are nicer castles in Europe.

Instead, I'd recommend walking the little trail around it. It's beautiful from the outside, and it's right by the sea (you can see Sweden as well!). On the same little island there's the HamletScenen, which is a Shakespeare theater, and you can see their "Hamlet wall of fame (with pictures of all the actors who played Hamlet in Kronborg). They have a place to take pictures where it looks like you're holding the skull (with a view of the castle).

Afterwards you can visit the old town, which is lovely.

There are statues of Hamlet and Ophelia outside the train station and a little "Hamlet grave" close to the castle. Both are worth a look. (Not to be confused with "Hamlet's grav" which is a bit too far to be interesting). There's also this Hamlet sculpture(?) but I find it ugly.

2. Verona

I wouldn't recommend a day trip to Verona, but I would highly recommend spending some relaxing days there (two nights is the sweet spot imo). It's a beautiful city, I've spent three months in Italy, and it was one of my favorite places I've visited.

"Juliet's House": everyone online will tell you it's not a must. They are right.

Going to the courtyard used to be free, but it's 5 euros now. If you want to go inside as well it'll be 12 (make sure you buy from the official website). Honestly, it's not that expensive, but it's more of a photoshoot location than anything else. Inside they collected some nice R&J related art, and if you're a really big fan of the Zeffirelli film it might be worth it to see the bed and Juliet and Romeo's costumes. Otherwise, it's a restored Renaissance house, which is always nice to see.

It's nice but it really isn't much. About a half-hour visit, if you don't stand in line to take pictures (most people take them on the balcony and by the statue in the courtyard, there is a copy of it inside with no line.).

I don't regret visiting the house, but it's not really why I recommend Verona. I'd say just walk around the city. It has a beautiful mix of ancient Roman, medieval, Renaissance, and modern buildings, that give that "out of time" feeling I love about Shakespeare plays. When wandering around, there's a bust of Shakespeare close to the amphitheater, and you can see a plaque labeling a building "Romeo's house" but only take a look if you're already passing through😅.

A cheaper r&j fake sight is "Juliet's tomb" (2-6 euros depending on if you're eligible for discounts). It's a real museum with real frescoes and art, but because of that it's not really Shakespeare related. Looks lovely if you're interested in medieval frescoes. I came to Verona not long after visiting Florence, so I was kinda done with art museums for a little while.

Verona has a Shakespeare festival that I unfortunately missed, but it looks very cool!

1. Rome

Omg go to Rome.

Other than it being an amazing city worth a trip on its own, the Roman plays are based on real events that took place in sights you can very much visit!

(Okay, mostly Julius Caesar, but it's the best of them anyway).

Full disclosure I study archaeology at uni and I walked 300 kilometers to Rome by foot (via Francigena, very fun), both those facts make me partial to that city, so make of it what you will.

The Roman Forum: I think I spent ten hours there? Maybe more. But I took my time and, again, I'm an archaeology student. There you can see Julius Caesar's grave ("But Brutus is an Honorable man!"), the Senate (though he was assassinated somewhere else), the Curia Julia, as well as the Forum where many of the scenes likely took place. On Palatine Hill (same ticket) there's a sculpture that references Shakespeare , I'm assuming you'll go up there anyway, because that sculpture is definitely not the main attraction.

There are a few entrances to the forum, so if there's a line just walk around. Check the discounts to see if you're eligible, I got a combined ticket with the Colosseum for two euros.

The site of Julius' assassination is worth going to see. I paid to go down to it, but you can see everything from street level (Bonus! There are cats there!).

Misalinius:

The Brutus bust at the Capitoline Museums is probably not him (if you go to Florence (which has some scenes from All's Well, but nothing related to it) you can see a beautiful bust by Michelangelo that's more based on the idea of Brutus). Similarly, the Vatican Museums have a bust of Antony that might or might not be him. They do have a bust of Julius Caesar that is him- but if you're going to the Vatican Museums, don't do it for the Romans. While we're talking about art in Italy- The Death of Julius Caesar is in Napoli.

I'd also recommend the Almost Corner Bookshop in Rome, a second hand English bookshop with a nice Shakespeare section.

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On other settings-

Timon, Midsummer, and Two Noble Kinsmen take place in Athens. I love Athens and it's worth visiting, but not for Shakespeare stuff.

MfM takes place in Vienna, which aside from being great, has one of the three Shakespeare gardens in Europe, though I haven't visited it.

Venice has Merchant and the first act of Othello- I saw they have walking tours with actors playing characters from these plays, but considering the subject of them... I felt a little uncomfortable with the idea. Otherwise, I don't need to tell you why you should visit Venice. It's Venice, it's worth the hype. Go to the Jewish ghetto when you're there, for MfV connections, and it's very nice.

I'm sure Padua (Taming & it's where Benedick is from) is a perfectly nice place to live and go to university, but it's not worth a special visit. Some people stay there to visit Venice.

Two Gentlemen of Verona takes place in Milan as well (and it's pretty important in The Tempest). Liked Milan, no Shakespeare stuff.

Twelfth Night is in "Illyria" I've been to Montenegro, and I'd recommend it.

Some of All's Well That Ends Well takes place in Paris (as well as very little of Henry V). Shakespeare and Company is a great English bookshop!

I've considered going to Agincourt when in France, but even with Henry V being one of my favorite plays, it really doesn't seem to be worth it. From what I've read online, there's not much to see, and it's pretty far from the interesting stuff.

Unrelated, but since this post is about my European travels- the best Shakespeare production out of five I've seen this year (and one of the best overall) was the Twelfth Night at Monbijou Theater in Berlin. I've seen it alone, then took my parents to see it when they came to visit me. It's in German. I don't speak German. It's that good.

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That's it for now!

I hope to visit both Troy and Alexandria for archaeology related reasons, and the Shakespeare connection will be a bonus.

I probably will visit Sicily, Prague, and Cyprus (WT and the rest of Othello), for unrelated reasons, but Messina will be 100% because of Much Ado.

The only ones I'm really not planning on right now are Roussillon (some of All's Well) and Navarre (LLL). Nothing against them, just not a priority.

And of course, hopefully I'll visit Lebanon one day, when it's safe and legal (for me).

Hope this was a little helpful, or at least interesting:)

Top of the photo is the back of the plane

Ultralighters hate to see me coming

I've mentioned this production in a post about creative casting choices, and I thought it might deserve it's own post.

Tldr: it's absolutely fantastic.

I'm not really a Hamlet girl but I've been searching for the right production for a while and I think this one might have finally converted me!

First some technical points:

They used the Shlonsky translation, that's generally considered pretty good while sometimes having more archaic language than I personally prefer. It worked, and kept the meter well. (Which is very important imo)

I was really impressed with how clear the story was considering the extremely minimalist staging (basically just some chairs).

The costuming was nothing to write home about (vaguely mid to late 20th century) but worked for selling the characterizations.

For the more controversial parts:

This production has what I'd consider sexual abuse in two scenes. Hamlet's conversation with his father's ghost, and his conversation with his mother in her room in 3.4. It's not exactly graphic (everyone has their clothes on) but it's definitely a choice™️.

Some might chuck it off to the production trying to edgy, (and they 100% are), but I do think it works here. It feels like there was thought put into that detail and it fits with the tone of the production and effects how we see the characters for the rest of the play.

However, I don't feel like Ophelia *needed* to take her top off in 4.5. That honestly just felt like they wanted to show off they can have nudity on stage.

Now for the meat of my review:

While Shuli Rand plays a pretty good asshole of a Hamlet, and delivers his speeches well, I've seen better Hamlets. Heuberger really steals the show as Claudius.

He's more known for his comic roles (He had some very iconic ones), I was surprised to learn he used to do Shakespeare. At 26, this production was his first professional role, but I would've never guessed that just by watching it.

26 years old Claudius is an inspired choice. Wouldn't work for every production but this one sells it so well.

Heuberger was the youngest in this cast (though not by much, everyone was between their late 20s to mid 30s). A combination of him having a bit of a baby face back then, styling, acting, and directing choices made him feel significantly younger (or just the others feel older).

This Claudius was walking around kicking rocks and picking stuff off the ground. He's definitely the villain, he's acticing like an asshole, he's smiling like a bastard, he was just also very much in over his head.

The most interesting part to me is how it affected his relationship with Gertrude. The power imbalance in that relationship is different in every production, but I don't know of any other ones where it's in *Gertrude's* favour.

It also effects how Hamlet's reaction to it comes off. He's right. Something is rotten.

Especially considering the presence of sexual abuse in this production, and if you try to work out the reality of how a woman would start an affair with her husband much younger brother (young enough to be her son's peer).

Heuberger plays it so well. The way he goes from acting kinda childish to just standing there while Gertrude starts making her moves. How quickly he turns to see her reaction when he finishes talking. There is something dark there, and it's not addressed directly, and it's done so well.

I also really loved the delivery of his soliloquy. He's just so sad throughout it, than he gives a little smile at the end as he stands up. It's great.

The most heartbreaking part of the play for me was his relationship with Hamlet, and the fact that there was clearly love there. The line about Claudius losing his father too reads very different when they are closer in age.

The ending was brilliant. The first thing Claudius does after Gertrude death is hug Hamlet, just for Hamlet to stab him. Honestly, I don't think this would work for any other Hamlet and Claudius, but it had me crying.

So, yeah.

For the Hebrew speakers in the audience, it's on YouTube, sadly, without subtitles. I can not recommend it enough!!!

In the picture is mine, Rami Heuberger as Claudius at 26. Aside from being great in the role, he was almost a year younger than the Hamlet in this production. This, in combination with an older Gertrude (the actress herself was not much older, but the way she was styled and acted was a lot more mature).

Gave a completely different prospective on the the relationship between G&C, and the way other charecter react to it (Hamlet especially).

(Tbh, if this baby faced man started acting like he was my dad I'd do a Hamlet too)