Barbara Marten

A working class mother in 1957 England finds escape from her lonely and repressed existence in a secret relationship with her son’s female teacher.

After a tragic accident that killed their son, a young family finds itself in a desperate battle for the soul of their surviving twin son.

From its sell-out run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed Hamlet, with BAFTA nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This groundbreaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was Royal Exchange’s fastest-selling show in a decade. Shakespeare’s most iconic work, Hamlet is the ultimate story of loyalty, love, betrayal, murder and madness. Hamlet’s father is dead and Denmark has crowned a new king. Consumed by grief, Hamlet struggles to exact revenge, with devastating consequences.

In 1944 in Kent, a conscientious objector (Luke Thompson) and a roaming artist (Matthew Tennyson) find friendship as the Second World War unfolds across the English Channel. In 1982 in Redcar, a bereaved mother (Barbara Marten) struggles with the memories of her son, lost in the Falklands War. In 1996, deep in the Black Forest, a holocaust survivor (Deborah Findlay) seeks to bring peace to a disturbed young boy (Orton O'Brien) and his violent stepfather (Trystan Gravelle). Accompanied by a stunning score from Academy Award winner Stephen Warbeck, director Dominic Dromgoole's adaptation of Robert Holman's classic play is a moving study of the effects of war and the scars left behind.