Ian W. Hill takes a personal point-of-view on Shakespeare's masterpiece, guiding a cast of eighteen through a ruthlessly and idiosyncratically cut version of the play, with an eye on being completely faithful to the dramatic intentions behind the work, while having no respect for the tradition around it, setting it in a class-driven 20th Century American landscape, a preppy world of yacht and country clubs and private boarding schools, where the actions of the Prince are a destructive distraction in a fragile society heading towards collapse and revolution. Violent, creepy, funny, and unsettling, Ian W. Hill's Hamlet operates on the pretentious idea of popularizing Shakespeare.

Ian W. Hill's Hamlet is presented as part of The Pretentious Festival.