For her first show as Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director, Anne-Louise Sarks brings together two prolific women of theatre – dual-Helpmann Award-winner Kate Mulvany as celebrated French stage actor Sarah Bernhardt. A brilliant comedy about a woman ahead of her time, Bernhardt/Hamlet offers a timeless exploration of gender and equality.

Paris, 1899: renowned stage idol Sarah Bernhardt has grown out of the ingénue roles that made her famous. She needs a new challenge, and has set her sights on the only role worthy of the greatest actress of the century – Hamlet. It’s a role that could make or break her and it’s outrageous, of course. A woman? Playing the Prince of Denmark! But that’s of no concern for Sarah. She’s more interested in Shakespeare’s poetry – it has to go, and the only man for the job is playwright Edmond Rostand, whom Sarah tasks with rewriting Hamlet.

Feisty and funny, Theresa Rebeck’s Bernhardt/Hamlet is a play about theatre – making it, loving it and watching it. But above all, it is a witty celebration of the art of the stage and an imaginative exploration of a pivotal moment in theatre history.