What edition of the original did Kosmas Politis have in front of him when he was translating Hamlet? And what were the translations that had already been made into the Greek language that he could consult? Regarding the first of these two questions, we find ourselves in about the same position as G.P. Savvidis when, during the editing of the edition of the translation of Hamlet by Konstantinos Theotokis, he left the same question unanswered. Furthermore, Kosmas Politis had, at the same time, at his disposal a selection of Greek translations. The translations of Hamlet into the Greek language until the late 1960s, including their reprints, were quite numerous and belonged in order to: Ioannis Pergavanoglou, Dimitris Vikelas, Iakovos Polylas, Michalis Damiralys, Dimitris Kotopoulos (manuscript), Angelos Vlachos, D. Kandiliotis (manuscript), Konstantinos Theotokis (manuscript), Angelos Seferiadis (manuscript), Vasilis Rotas, V. Liaskas (prose adaptation), and Emmanouil Vicketos. The reasons for proceeding with this edition are, first of all, twofold. First, reasons of theatrical interest, in the sense that it would be worth publishing the text of a performance, which, moreover, took place during the April dictatorship and, additionally, was successful. Second, reasons of philological and literary interest, as the translation at hand was made by the most poetical, according to reputable critics, prose writer of the famous Generation of '30, Kosmas Politis. The reader will have at their disposal a larger part of the translated text than was ultimately 'performed' in the Experimental Theatre's performance, although the complete text has likely been permanently lost.
