Did revenge play inspire Hamlet?

Dublin Youth Theatre celebrates 45 years this year with an ambitious production of the late 16th-Century play, The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, which was very influential in the development of revenge tragedies in Elizabethan theatre. Several of the themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet seem to have been inspired by the play, including a ghost and a play-within-a play.

It poses questions about the justice system and what worth the individual life has compared with the fate of nations. The cast of 15, directed by Aoife Spillane– Hinks, has worked with a large creative team of leading professionals and has been trained in combat and stunt work. As you might expect from an Elizabethan play, there’s passionate behaviour, forbidden love and depictions of violence and suicide.

■ Runs at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, August 17–20.