Hamlet

This is the first time Hamlet can be seen as one of us. He bleeds and cries and mourns his father like you and me, not like a prince from centuries ago. The humanity in this prince brought to life by Andrew and Robert Icke is as real as any contemporary drama. This man was driven to madness by his own father, and also by his own pain.

Technical Details

Run:: Almeida - 17 Feb till 15 Apr 2017
Harold Pinter - 09 Jun till 02 Sep 2017
Company:: Almeida Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre
Director:: Robert Icke
Written by:: William Shakespeare
Main Cast:: Andrew Scott (Hamlet)
Juliet Stevenson (Gertrude) - Almeida and Harold Pinter until 1 July
Derbhle Crotty (Gertrude) - Harold Pinter from 4 July
Angus Wright (Claudius)
Peter Wight (Polonius)
Jessica Brown Findlay (Ophelia)
Luke Thompson (Laertes)
Amaka Okafor (Guildenstern) - Almeida
Madeline Appiah (Guildenstern) - Harold Pinter
Calum Finlay (Rosencrantz)
David Rintoul (Ghost/Player King)
Joshua Higgott (Marcellus)
Daniel Rabin (Reynaldo)

Hamlet Review

I am sure seeing this live must have been a magical experience, but for geographical and financial reasons, I could only witness this through the BBC broadcast and it blew me away.

What turned me into a Hamlet fan was my love for Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” back in ’97 and I had Iain Glenn as the most perfect Hamlet ever (until now), cause he embodied everything I imagined when reading it: vulnerability and frailty! I must confess I was a bit afraid of watching Andrew’s Hamlet and being disappointed… but silly me! How could I have thought something like that???? After watching this, I realized there is no way Andrew will ever disappoint me as an actor. The perfection, freshness, humanity and sensitivity delivered in each and every single line were an evidence that his talent is just something out of this world. Of course that I am super biased, otherwise I would not go through all the trouble of making this website, but watching this performance has made me incredibly proud of being his fan and making this website. I try my best to keep my reviews objective and to point out everything that I don’t like (there will be some nasty ones in the future, be sure of that) but this time is really hard for me not to just fill pages and pages of compliments towards his performance, so yeah, this is gonna be long!

According to Andrew, there were 150 performances and 500 lines to memorize. This means that he has done this every night for 150 times. If every single night was like what I saw on the broadcast, it is truly amazing. How can someone keep something fresh after performing it over and over?? Everything he says sounds spontaneous and natural, just like a regular conversation. How does one do that??? He turned lines that are centuries old, in archaic English into something natural and up-to-date. One of the things that I hate the most about Shakespeare performances is the intonation actors give to words. They sound fake and overly dramatic, hard to relate to, take seriously or even understand them. It looks like a show, not a real person speaking. I am so happy Andrew did not do that, what he did was to give a true meaning to every word because you could see that he felt them in him. He was not spitting his lines like he just wanted to get rid of them… Pause. Pause is everything and Andrew knows it. He pauses a lot and that is how we speak. He knows when to pause, and he also knows when to speak fast and harshly. I don’t think anyone has done what he did here. He turned Hamlet into something relatable, humane and contemporary. When he speaks, you don’t even realize this is Shakespearean English, cause it is so natural and full of emotion that it could be a real conversation between mother and son from this very decade.

His performance was so amazing and emotional that it made me realize I too have something in common with Hamlet. When he sees his father’s ghost for the first time, the way that he grabs him and holds him tight is exactly how I would do to my father if I had the chance to see him again: hold him tight and enjoy every second of seeing this person you love so much being close to you again. I cried… I never ever cried with Hamlet before. And that is how realistic his emotions are. You can see yourself in the scene, it is not acting, it is reality.

The scene I chose as the best clip is a scene that I could watch over and over a million times and never get tired of it. Juliet Stevenson and Andrew acting together could hold an entire football stadium in complete silence and awe. They are so engaging, energetic and amazing that I lack words to describe. She is absolutely perfect and flawless! Her voice, power and charisma bring such an intensity to the scene that is truly remarkable. I dare saying this is the best scene of the whole play. They are both strong and captivating, that is why it is so great to watch. There is no weaker part. All their scenes together are great.

I must confess that I was really surprised with Jessica Brown Findlay. Until seeing this I thought she was a bit meh as an actress, but her Ophelia is absolutely great! Her chemistry with Andrew is so fantastic that truly empowers the end of their story arch. Most Ophelias are quite boring and irrelevant, but her Ophelia was powerful, strong and relevant. She made me care for Ophelia and feel sad for what happens to her. I never took much notice of her, but Jessica made me see her and wish the two of them would have stayed together. That scene of them dancing, where he is crying and she does some goofy stuff to cheer him up is just so brilliant and natural. Her laughter is also quite contagious.

Peter Wight as Polonius was hilarious. He also brought a new breath of life to those old lines. Really funny and entertaining. The scene of him speaking to his hidden mic while being with Hamlet is priceless. That scene is super funny.

Now comes what I thought was a bit disappointing about the play: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. As I mentioned in the beginning of this, I was a huge fan of “Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead” so I was a bit disappointed with them here. It was hard for me to see Guildenstern as a woman, I must confess, but I suppose Robert Icke was trying to make things more inclusive and give women more interesting roles, so I can deal with that. But the fact that he reversed their personalities, that I didn’t like much. I have always perceived Rosencratz to be emotional and caring, probably because of Tom Stoppard, and Guildenstern more serious and analytical. But here it was the other way around: Rosencrantz was super cold and distant and Guildenstern seems to be the only one that is actually friends with Hamlet. Madeline Appiah’s performance is great, she is very emotional and you can see that she cares about Hamlet. I can’t say the same about Calum Finlay. I thought his performance was a bit flat and disconnected from the words. He seemed to be just a body there, but not much going on in his eyes… Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I had Gary Oldman in mind delivering those lines, but I didn’t think of Tim Roth when Madeline was speaking. I don’t know, I had a lot of expectations from those scenes of them together because I know those words by heart until today, so I was disappointed with how it turned out. I wish Rosencrantz had been a bit more alive and connected to Hamlet.

The ending was quite emotional, up to the point where Hamlet starts convulsing because of the poison. I didn’t like that very much and I thought that his death could have been a bit more elegant or dramatic, but it looked comical instead, which might have been the intention. He looked like a starfish completely stretched to all directions. I know it sounds absurd, but couldn’t he convulse more elegantly??? I thought it weakened the power the scene had built until then.

All I can say is that I envy those who had the chance to see this live. If it was like that on video, I can only imagine how it was like in person.