Transubstantiating the Performance: Towards a Mimetic Narrative in Hamlet's Hecuba Scene

Since the appearance of Lionel Abel's essay on Metatheatre (1963), it has become almost commonplace to equate Hamlet's role with that of an actor or of a director. Whether acting inside the play or directing it from behind the scenes, Hamlet is one of the most enigmatic epitomes of the self-reflecting power of the Elizabethan drama.