Hamlet and Ophelia are on the brink of adulthood. Unlike characters such as Romeo and Juliet, who are still in the full throes of adolescence, Hamlet is old enough to perceive the abuses of power around him. And yet he still possesses a youthful desire for purity, tormenting him with doubt and confusion that give rise to a terrible paralysis.

Hamlet can only stand by and watch as, after his father’s death, his mother allies herself not with him but with a new husband and father, Claudius. Feeling himself crushed by the world of adults, Hamlet veers between self-hatred and self-importance, between contempt for himself and contempt for the impure world. In the end, he is only human like all of us: inconstant, multi-layered, ambivalent, ambiguous. In pursuing his ambitions and fighting his fears, he comes face to face with himself: Hamlet vs Hamlet.