Before you watch Hamnet, here are 20 things you (probably) didn't know about Shakespeare's Hamlet

That rather splendid Hamnet adaptation starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal is going into cinemas this week, already sweeping up dozens of nominations already. Set to be one of the best films of 2026, taking Maggie O'Farrell's breathtakingly beautiful spin on the age-old story of Hamlet into cinema magic. But before all that happens later this week, pass the time with these 20 things you (probably) didn't know about the original play – put that forgotten GCSE knowledge to the test...

1. No one knows its release date

Exact dating of the play is impossible, but most agree Shakespeare finished it in 1601. In 1598, notable author Francis Meres published a survey of English literature from Chaucer to his present day, within which 12 of Shakespeare's plays are named. Hamlet is not one of them, suggesting that it had not yet been written then as Meres would not have overlooked so significant a piece. The latest date estimate is based on an entry, of 26 July 1602, in the Register of the Stationers' Company, indicating that Hamlet was "latelie Acted by the Lo: Chamberleyne his servantes".

2. Disney's The Lion King is based on Hamlet

The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on an already-existing work. Or was it? It's actually an almost wholesale copy of Hamlet, with the minor alterations of switching Denmark to the African savanna, people to animals and throwing in a slightly happier ending.

3. Some of the storyline was, erm, borrowed

That said, Hamlet wasn't without its, erm, inspirations. The sources of the play trace back as far as pre-13th century Icelandic tales. The generic "hero-as-fool" story is so old and is expressed in the literature of so many cultures that scholars believe it may be Indo-European in origin. A Scandinavian version of the story of Hamlet, Amleth was put into writing in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus. A reasonably accurate version of Saxo's story was translated into French in 1570 by François de Belleforest in his Histoires Tragiques. Belleforest embellished Saxo's text substantially, almost doubling its length, and introduced the hero's melancholy. After this point, the ancestry of Shakespeare's version becomes more difficult to trace.

4. Ben Whishaw was the youngest ever Hamlet

After Ethan Hawke's memorable Hamlet in 2000, at that point the youngest actor to do so at 29, Ben Whishaw stole the title for youngest actor to plkay the Dane. At 23, Ben Whishaw is the youngest actor to have played Hamlet (professionally) in Tevor Nun's incredible 2003 production. The oldest person to play Hamlet on screen is thought to be Johnston Forbes-Robertson, who was 60 when his performance was filmed in 1913.

5. Abraham Lincoln's assassin has a connection with Hamlet

Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth - the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln - was one of the most popular and respected Shakespearean actors in the 1860s. He went into a brief retirement after his brother "offed" Lincoln, but made his comeback in the role of Hamlet (pictured). Rather than wait for Hamlet's first appearance in the text to meet the audience's response, Booth sat on the stage in the play's first scene and was met by a lengthy standing ovation. Booth's Broadway run lasted for exactly one hundred performances in 1864.

6. The longest run by a single actor was 101 shows

Perhaps the most famous Hamlet of all time, John Barrymore (pictured), played the part on Broadway in 1922, and it was thought he would bow out after 99 performances out of respect for Edwin Booth's 100 shows (see previous fact). Not a bit of it. Barrymore extended his run to 101 performances so that he could pinch the record for himself, before calling it a day. Fair enough.

(Image: Wikicommons)

7. John Gielgud holds the record for the longest show run

Currently the longest Broadway run of Hamlet is the 1964 production starring Richard Burton (pictured) and directed by John Gielgud, which ran for 137 performances.

8. One actor has done 267 Hamlet productions

The actor who's played the part most frequently on Broadway is Maurice Evans, who played Hamlet for 267 performances in productions in 1938, 1939, and 1945. The longest recorded London run is that of Henry Irving - the first actor to be honoured with a knighthood - who played the part for over two hundred consecutive nights in 1874, and even revived the role in 1878. He's pictured as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

9. Only one actor has won a Tony for Hamlet

The only actor to win a Tony Award for playing Hamlet is Ralph Fiennes in 1995. Richard Burton was nominated for the award in 1964, but lost to Sir Alec Guinness in Dylan. The production wasn't gong-less, mind you, with Hume Cronyn winning a Tony Award for his performance as Polonius in that same 1964 show.

10. Similarly, only one person has won an Academy Award for Hamlet

The only actor to win an Academy Award for playing Hamlet is Laurence Olivier in 1948 (pictured). The only actor to win an Emmy nomination for playing Hamlet is Christopher Plummer in 1966.

11. Hamlet is not a men-only role

Women have occasionally played the lead since back when Sarah Siddons (pictured), most famed for the role of Lady Macbeth, played the famous Danish prince at least nine times over a thirty-year span (1775-1805). In 2000, Angela Winkler played Hamlet at the Edinburgh Festival to critical acclaim.

12. Hamlet inspired one of the biggest scientific theories

The character of Hamlet played a critical role in Sigmund Freud's explanation of the Oedipus complex and thus influenced modern psychology. In Freud's view (as usual), Hamlet is torn largely because he has repressed sexual desire for his mother, which is being acted out by and challenged by Claudius.

13. It's a big'un

The average length of a play in Elizabethan England was 3000 lines. With 4,042 lines and 29,551 words, Hamlet is the longest Shakespearean play. With 1,787 lines and 14,369 words, The Comedy of Errors is the shortest.

14. You can read Hamlet in Klingon

You can, if you wish, listen or read 'Hamlet' in the Klingon tongue. The play was translated over several years by Nick Nicholas and Andrew Strader of the "Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project". The impetus for the project came from a line from the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in which the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon says: "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon."

15. Sons of Anarchy is based off Hamlet – just with added bikers and leather

US hit TV drama Sons of Anarchy, about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club, is loosely based on Hamlet. The show's creator, Kurt Sutter, has said: “I don't want to overplay that but it's there. It's not a version of Hamlet but it's definitely influenced by it.”

16. There has been an all-canine production of Hamlet

The first-ever all-pug production of Hamlet successfully sought backing over on Kickstarter with just 15 minutes to spare. It surpassed its goal of raising $5000 by $35. The production is set to last 5 hours and, called Pug-let, will be staged next September. It started as a joke, but is now an actual thing.

17. Everyone's a critic

Voltaire wasn't a big fan of the play. He described it as: "A rude and barbarous piece — such a work as one might suppose to be the fruit of the imagination of a drunken savage."

Charming.

18. It is rumoured to be Shakespeare's only cameo

About a hundred years after Shakespeare died Poet Laureate, Nicholas Rowe, reported that he had heard an anecdote that Shakespeare himself had originally played the Ghost, causing a rumour that continues to this day. Truth is, nobody knows.

19. David Tennant's Hamlet skull not a prop, but an actual person's skull

A pianist's dying wish was fulfilled when actor David Tennant used his skull in a performance of Hamlet. When André Tchaíkowsky died, he donated his body for medical science, but he added the proviso that his skull "shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance."

Since then it was only used in rehearsals because no actor felt comfortable enough using it on stage. Unbeknownst to the paying public, Doctor Who actor Tennant used the skull in 22 performances in Stratford-upon-Avon. The picture was taken at a London performance, so that's probably not Andre's skull.

20. Hamlet's setting, Elsinore, is a real city in Denmark

Helsingør (often known in English-speaking countries as Elsinore) is a city on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. It is known internationally for its castle Kronborg, where Hamlet is set, but of course Shakespeare called it Elsinore. Hamlet was performed in the castle for the first time to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, with a cast consisting of soldiers from the castle garrison. Later performers to play Hamlet at the castle include Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Christopher Plummer, Derek Jacobi, and in 2009 Jude Law.

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