Hiroyuki Sanada 真田広之 Hamlet ハムレット (1998) at the Barbican Theatre London – Itsumo Omaeo Mitsumeteru

Hamlet – originally written by William Shakespeare and widely considered to be one of the most important plays of English literature

This production was the work of the Ninagawa company, and was performed in 1998 at the Barbican Centre in London, England

It was as a result of this performance that Mr. Sanada became widely known to western audiences. When Sir Nigel Hawthorne saw him perform he asked Mr. Sanada to join the Royal Shakespeare Company as the Fool in their performance of King Lear. As he had to learn English for the role, this opened new doors for Mr. Sanada, and he was offered the role of Ujio in The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. From there he has gone on to many more roles familiar to audiences worldwide.

Thank you to all involved in the creation of this documentary, as well as the Ninagawa Company for their performance. If I have forgotten anything, please excuse me.

Thank you to Mr. Sanada for his incredible performance and his dedication. The song “Itsumo Omaeo Mitsumeteru” is performed by Sanada Hiroyuki.

The final slide in this video is a screenshot from the wonderful video uploaded by the Shiba Wanko Channel, which I subscribe to and enjoy immensely for their extensive videos of Mr. Sanada’s work. I found the channel over a year ago, and still return to watch the excellent videos there.