HAMLET: Shakespeare, RSC, Barbican till 2 April
HAMLET: William Shakespeare
Barbican: Tkts, 020 7638 8891
Runs: 4h, 2 intervals
Review: Vera Lustig, 7 December 2001
Steven Pimlott's modern-dress production blazes with intelligence and fresh insightsA wordless tableau from the HAMLET sticks in the memory. On the vast, bare set, resembling a gallery minus the art (though these days, who can tell?) the courtiers stand around in their grey suits, listening to an unseen orchestra. Each is alone in their world, swaying gently. We sense that we are spying on the King's spies, catching them unawares, in realisation perhaps for the play's opening, when a searchlight raked the darkened auditorium.
The production evokes the mixture of vigilance and buoyancy that marks a change of government. Larry Lamb's Claudius, a silken PR man elevated to the top job, retains the stoop of someone long accustomed to hovering on the periphery – shades of Prince Philip. His veneer cracks alarmingly when Hamlet taunts him by calling him 'Mother'. He holds his nephew aloft in a tight hug, giving him a prolonged kiss of obscene mockery.
Shakespeare's plays seethe with sexual disgust, and the Prince's savage groping of Ophelia during his misogynistic outburst is all the more shocking because Kerry Condon appears so fragile. This wan, pinched girl is an apt daughter for Alan David's malign, troubled Polonius. After bidding farewell to his son, he turns to Ophelia, his tone switching to clipped menace. He is not without self-knowledge, though: his voice catches on exhorting Laertes 'To thine own self be true.'
Self-awareness, unencumbered by self-consciousness, abounds in Samuel West's Hamlet. West's pleasant face is deceptive – he can encompass Hamlet's rage, his jolting mood-swings, reconciling them with the man's nobility, his grace and humanity. An actor of great presence, West nonetheless makes an unassuming Hamlet, a reluctant hero. His 'The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right' still rings in my ears.
Cast:
Francisco: Giles Fagan
Barnardo: Glenn Chapman
Marcellus: Michael Mears
Horatio: John Dougall
Ghost: Christopher Good
Claudius: Larry Lamb
Cornelius: Chuk Iwuji
Voltemand: James Curran
Laertes: Ben Meyjes
Polonius: Alan David
Hamlet: Samuel West
Gertrude: Marty Cruickshank
Ophelia: Kerry Condon
Reynaldo: Adam Kay
Rosencrantz: Wayne Cater
Guildenstern: Sean Hannaway
First Player: Finn Caldwell
Prologue: Chuk Iwuji
Player King: Robert Jezek
Player Queen: Jennifer McEvoy
Fortinbras: Finn Caldwell
Captain: Damian Kearney
Gentlewoman: Hattie Morahan
Messenger: Alex Zorbas
First Gravedigger: Alan David
Second Gravedigger: Conor Moloney
Priest : James Curran
Osric: Christopher Good
English Ambassador: Michael Mears
Director: Steven Pimlott
Designer: Alison Chitty
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Music: Jason Carr
Sound Matt McKenzie
2001-12-14 21:02:30