Report to the Community 2017 | Page 27

25 PLEASE, CONTINUE (HAMLET) A smart, engaged and thoroughly Melbourne exploration of our civic society, Please, Continue (Hamlet) took a true crime event and linked it to an episode in Shakespeare’s Hamlet to create a unique courtroom drama, with Hamlet on trial for murder— and the audience selected as the jury. Hamlet was trialled by real judges, lawyers, prosecutors and clerks from Melbourne’s legal fraternity including George Hampell AM QC, Betty King QC, Robert Richter QC, Philip Dun QC, John Champion SC and others. “The Victorian Bar was proud to collaborate with Melbourne Festival. Bringing together some of Melbourne’s best-known barristers and judges, and talented actors, the production challenged notions of objective truth and justice in an era of fake news and degraded public discourse. As a participant, it was fun, rewarding and memorable—I got to prosecute Hamlet for the murder of Polonius. How many people can say that?” — MATT COLLINS QC, PARTICIPANT