HAMLET. To 10 January.
London.
HAMLET
by William Shakespeare.
Novello Theatre To 10 January 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.15pm no evening performance 31 Dec. Mat 1pm 31 Dec.
Runs 3h 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 0844 482 5135.
www.rsc.org.uk (£1.50 booking fee per ticket by ‘phone or online.Hamlet is sold out at the Novello. The RSC advises against buying tickets other than possible returns through the box office.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 December.
Everyman in a world of mirrors.
Arrived in London, Gregory Doran’s fine Royal Shakespeare Company production turns out to have the decade’s second-most inapposite programme-cover. David Tennant’s Hamlet, crown askance, looks argumentatively out. But the London run’s seen Edward Bennett upgraded from Laertes to play the prince while Tennant recovers from a back injury. It should give Bennett unique insight into the Ophelia question (could 40,000 brothers’ love not match Hamlet’s for the woman he’s driven to suicide?).
Doran’s production shows hypocrisies abounding through Claudius’ court. In an overtly modern moment Laertes hides the condoms his sister’s revealed in his luggage as his father enters; perhaps justifying Polonius spying on his son abroad. Meanwhile memory lapses afflict Oliver Ford Davies’ Polonius, his maxims so familiar his children complete them by rote. Patrick Stewart’s Claudius begins displaying personal anguish for the man he’s murdered beside joy at his wedding, yet Gertrude has to remind him about his step-son’s place of study.
Robert Jones’s set suggests a spacious hollowness while Tim Mitchell’s lighting contrasts dark, secret events, agitated by hand-held electric torch beams, and scenes of public show illuminated by chandeliers. Huge mirrors dart intense beams, mirrored doors open, suddenly sending light in new directions. Grandeur co-exists with emptiness.
It’s into this world the outsider Horatio, in his rough clothes, brings news of the Ghost’s appearance. And Penny Downie’s Gertrude finally discovers to her shock the lies being lived around her.
Bennett’s Hamlet is first seen perfectly composed and neatly suited in a corner of the assembly. Bennett is master of the conventional, if anguished individual. It’s not the usual recipe for Hamlet, but (a few moments of stretched technique apart) this makes his performance a fascinating, rare experience.
Hamlets are chosen for temperament, and Laertes for individuals who are composed till fortune really outrages them. Bennett shows the even temperament stretched beyond its comprehension. This is more than ever a Hamlet as everyman. If by definition it’s not a star performance it is, with the intense concentration achieved through the soliloquies, way beyond being an ‘understudy’. Though, fortuitously, the RSC programme has a page about that too.
Rod Dungate’s review of this production at Stratford-upon-Avon is in reviewsgate.com's RSC section.
Hamlet: David Tennant/Edward Bennett*.
Claudius/Ghost: Patrick Stewart.
Gertrude: Penny Downie.
Polonius: Oliver Ford Davies.
Laertes: Edward Bennett/Tom Davey*.
Ophelia: Mariah Gale.
Horatio: Peter de Jersey.
Rosencrantz: Sam Alexander.
Guildenstern: Tom Davey/Ricky Champ*.
Marcellus: Keith Osborn.
Barnardo: Ewen Cummins.
Francisco/Fortinbras: Robert Curtis.
Player King: John Woodvine.
Player Queen/Osric: Ryan Gage.
Lucianus: Ricky Champ/Robert Curtis*.
Prologue/Voltemand/Captain: Roderick Smith.
Dumbshow King: Samuel Dutton.
Dumbshow Queen/Priest: Jim Hooper.
Gravedigger: Mark Hadfield.
Second Gravedigger: Sam Alexander.
Cornelia: Andrea Harris.
Lady in Waiting: Riann Steele.
Page: Zoe Thorne.
Court Attendant: Samuel Dutton.
*roles played during the absence of David Tennant.
Director: Gregory Doran.
Designer: Robert Jones.
Lighting: Tim Mitchell.
Sound: Jeremy Dunn.
Music: Paul Englishby.
Music Director: John Woolf/James Dodgson.
Movement: Michael Ashcroft.
Company Text/Voice work: Lyn Darnley, Gigi Buffington.
Fights: Terry King.
.Music Director: John Woolf.
Assistant director: Cressida Brown.
2008-12-25 22:39:54