Peter Viney's Blog

Hamlet
By William Shakespeare

Directed by Robert Icke
Designed by Hildegard Bechtler

Almeida Theatre, London from March 2017
&
Harold Pinter Theatre London from June 2017

BBC2 Broadcast
Saturday 31^stMarch 2018

Directed for the screen by Rhodri Huw
Recorded at the Harold Pinter Theatre

CAST OF TV VERSION:

Andrew Scott – Hamlet
Juliet Stevenson – Gertrude
Angus Wright – Claudius
Peter Wright- Polonius
Luke Thomas – Laertes
Jessica Browne-Findlay- Ophelia
David Rintoul – Ghost of Old Hamlet / Player King
Joshua Higgett – Horatio
Barry Aird – Francisco / Gravedigger
Daniel Rabin – Reynaldo
Maanuv Thiara – Marcellus
Calum Findlay- Rosencrantz
Madeleine Appiah – Guildenstern
Marty Cruikshank – Player Queen
Matthew Wynn – Bernardo / Player 3, Priest

This was an acclaimed (mainly)stage production in 2017 and looking at reviews, it seems to have improved between its first run (Almeida, Islington) and its transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End. We failed, as so often, to get Almeida tickets, then couldn’t get a suitable West End date … we wanted to connect it to other weekend bookings.   The reviews were obsessed with Andrew Scott as Moriaty in Sherlock, playing against Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes in Sherlock. 221B or Not 221B was an irresistible headline. Both have played Hamlet close together (link to Benedict Cumberbatch at The Barbican). Before we go any further, for us Moriaty wins.

The broadcast is 3 hours 15 minutes, rather than the stage full four hours, partly because we have instant cuts between scenes. That’s a benefit, and as the Daily Express pointed out in its unusual negative review, the actual Almeida has some  “bone-crushingly uncomfortable” seats (absolutely true) so maybe missing the original and catching up on BBC 2 is a benefit. Other reviews found it too long, and at four hours, I’d say it was. But it isn’t four hours any more. And you can press pause and stretch at home. Did they cut it between the Almeida and the Harold Pinter Theatre? Looking on line, some costumes differ. Guildenstern is different. They may have taken heed of the early reviews.

The film direction and cutting is first rate, for instance letting us see Guildenstern’s reaction very clearly behind Hamlet, then cutting to Rosencrantz at the right points. A director has to lead our eyes on a filmed play, the advantage being that we might focus on something we would otherwise have missed … with a multiple camera set up, the director (Rhudri How) will have a choice of shots and is selecting for us. The disadvantage being that we lose the whole picture of the stage, so in selecting one reaction, we might miss others. It’s the reason why football commentators prefer to be at the ground, not watching a TV feed.

The players mime: The principles are in the front row of the actual theatre, so we see Gertrude, Claudius and Hamlet on the projection.

There are times when I wondered if they’d cut multiple shows together. The cast take the front row in the actual theatre to watch the play-within-a-play and they are filmed so the audience can see them on the big screen … true in the theatre. However, the shot of them just shows audience behind and when I’ve been at the “filmed performance” there’s usually a bank of four or even five camera centre stalls. Closing in so tight on the front stalls brings intimacy and life to the whispered “country matters / shall I lie in your lap” conversation.

Hamlet (Andrew Scott) in the Security Room.

Another advantage of the filmed version is that a lot of important stuff is on a laptop, or on what I see as the Security Cameras room, which is where they see the ghost of Hamlet Senior on video. On stage it’s all projected, but the video director can cut in. This makes the funeral at the start (with Danish onscreen text) and Fortinbras’s pronouncements onscreen, and Voltimand the ambassadors message seen on a laptop, even more effective. They use Danish a lot … the fencing fight has its title in Danish as if a sports event, and “touches” with the rapier set off an electronic red light across the set.

The onstage “news camera” films Claudius (Angus Wright), Hamlet (Andrew Scott) and Gertrude (Juliet Stevenson)

We’ve had the West Wing version. We’ve had the School Gym version. We’ve had the Mental Hospital version. I’d call this the Penthouse version. We are in a modern penthouse with a wide view over the city. The Claudius-Gertrude party continues on the balcony through some Hamlet dialogues and soliloquies. Interestingly it worked a treat having the party and music (Spirit on The Water) in the background, which it failed to do in the current RSC Macbeth. The other scene is (for me) the security guard’s room, probably in the basement, and we see the ghost walking through tunnels that look like dungeons, so the penthouse might be perched on top of an old castle.

Hamlet (Andrew Scott)

First, the Prince. Andrew Scott is astonishingly good as Hamlet. The close ups allowed by the filmed version let us see every roll of his eyes, every twist of the mouth. Though he’s playing “large” for the theatre, waving his arms a great deal, he wins on close ups too. The slight Irish accent distances him from his RP parents, usually something I notice, but it didn’t get in the way here. Its an impassioned Prince, giving himself lots of time and pauses whenever he needs it.  Lines are given new weight, changed emphasis, unusually modern inflections.  That old speech so many of us had to learn, To be or not to be came across as newly-minted, written yesterday.  Then he can go from a whisper to violent rage in a micro-second.

As the innovative placing of the pauses runs through every character, Robert Icke deserves the praise too. The text is severely cut in places, though what’s left is given plenty of space and gravitas … or indeed humour where need be.

Ophelia (Jessica Browne-Findlay) and Laertes (Luke Thomas)

Ophelia is intrinsically the wettest  (sorry, I don’t mean from being in the river) major part in the canon, but I’d rate Jessica Browne-Findlay the best Ophelia I’ve seen. There are additions … a fleeting attack on her in the bath by Hamlet, which might be clearer or longer on stage. She starts as feisty and sexy too (unusually). In tight close up with no cutaways, she rolls out a sizeable tear as well. Some actors can do it at will, others can’t.  Lots of aside secret looks with Hamlet. Her madness scene is in a wheelchair as if rolled in from the psychiatric ward. She even manages the song, usually a dire stumbling block, with aplomb. She’s matched with a strong Laertes (Luke Thomas) with a tattoo on his neck… hopefully just a transfer! All the young group are impassioned, quick to emotion.

Claudius & Getrude

Claudius (Angus Wright) and Gertrude (Juliet Stevenson) are in lust, if not in love. Both come over as smart, rich, powerful. This is a strong, sexy Gertrude, including the scene with Hamlet. We can see the torment in her eyes. She doesn’t want to believe Claudius is a murderer, but the doubt is increasingly visible, she is genuinely terrified that Hamlet might kill her.  Claudius is a smooth talking bastard. Immaculate clothes to match his height and carefully coiffeured hair.

Polonius (Peter Wright) and Ophelia (Jessica Browne-Findlay)

Peter Wright was a perfect Polonius for us too. He bumbled with skill, showed real affection for his kids, phrased lines beautifully.  The idea that Polonius is recording Hamlet and Ophelia using modern technology is not at all new, now that so many productions are modern dress, but here he has a lapel microphone. It enables Hamlet to reveal he knows what’s going on by mimicking speaking into a lapel mic himself. Giving Hamlet a pistol rather than a sword, or as we have seen before in modern dress, a penknife, made sense of Polonius’s death too. It looked possible.

Not a dud part in the play. They doubled old Hamlet and the Player King (David Rintoul), an effective pairing as he looked identical as each, and in the early ghost scene became manifest and shared a hug with his son. The Player King and Queen had a long mime sequence set to Bob Dylan’s One Too Many Mornings. Having Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as a male / female couple is almost a given nowadays. It worked as it tends to! Horatio (Joshua Higgett) was a strong foil for The Prince.

The ending, with every ghost on stage and Hamlet about to join them made sense of all those lengthy dying lines, because he’s upright. Never seen it before in Hamlet, but it has become a cliche in Macbeth. Not every innovation works … Claudius makes his confession in an armchair with Hamlet pointing a gun at him. But can he see Hamlet until late in the speech? Perhaps not. There is a whole sub-plot on watches with expanding metal straps (Time!). Hamlet continually fiddles with his watch band. Polonius presents Laertes with a similar watch when he leaves. At the end watches are being moved around between people (I think). Note how prominent the watch is on the theatre poster at the top of this review.

We were both transfixed from beginning to end. Bits were actually exciting, much was surprising, due to the new weightings on line, which is very hard with a play you know that well (I did it for A level among other things!)

The Dylan songs are played loud and are extremely effective. 2017 saw Bob Dylan songs in Girl From The North Country too, and combining the greatest writer in English ever, with the greatest 20^thcentury writer in English (for me) is brilliant. Spirit on The Water (from Modern Times) runs behind the party when Hamlet returns from Wittenberg. I’ve never heard it sound so good. It’s the CD version, but with people trying to dance (I’m wild about you, you’re a fool about me) it comes to life.  One Too Many Mornings (original version) covers the Player’s mime scene. Not Dark Yetcovers the fencing between Hamlet and Laertes. One More Cup of Coffee plays over the credits.  Icke knows his Dylan in depth … Up To Me is a great Blood On The Tracks outtake. AND they’re properly credited on the video for a change.

MY RATING:  5 stars, we agreed that Andrew Scott was the best Hamlet we had seen in years … my companion adds “since David Warner” which takes her back to her first teenaged visit to Stratford. That’s a lot of Hamlets, and we’re including film.

*****

NOTE: it will be on BBC iPlayer. You can catch it. I’ll be surprised if a BluRay doesn’t emerge. Film quality is HD intense with sound to match.

OTHER VERSIONS OF HAMLET REVIEWED HERE:

Hamlet National Theatre 2010 with Rory Kinnear
Hamlet Young Vic 2011 with Michael Sheen
Hamlet RSC 2013 with Jonathan Slinger
Hamlet – Globe 2014
Hamlet, Maxine Peake, Manchester, 2014
Hamlet, Benedict Cumberbatch, 2015
Hamlet, RSC 2016 Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet, Stratford

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
THEATRE:
5
Susannah Clapp, The Observer ***** (Almeida)

The originality is a question of pitch and pace and breath. It is as if the lungs of the play are different. Every moment of the text rings with significance. Scott is convulsed with emotion on a small stage. From the beginning he is emphatic, tipping easily from fury into tears, a windmill of small gestures, pointing to his eyes when he talks of weeping. He is on the brink of being too much. But then Hamlet is too much – for himself.

Kate Kellaway, The Observer ***** (Harold Pinter)
Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times *****
Andrezej Lukowski, Time Out *****
Natasha Tripney, The Stage *****
Sarah Crompton, What’s On Stage *****
4
Paul Taylor, The Independent ****
Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard **** (Almeida)
Quentin Letts, Daily Mail ****
Gary Naylor, Broadway World, ****
David Nice, The Arts Desk ****
3
Michael Billington, The Guardian ***
Domenic Cavendish, Telegraph ***
Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard *** (H. Pinter)
David Butcher, Radio Times ***
2
Ann Treneman, The Times **
Michael Arditti, Daily Express **

TV BROADCAST

LINKS ON THIS BLOG:

ANGUS WRIGHT
Privates on Parade, by Peter Nichols, Grandage Season 2012

DANIEL RABIN
The Winter’sTale, Wanamaker 2016
Pericles, Wanamaker 2016
King John, Globe 2015

DAVID RINTOUL
Nell Gwynne, Globe 2105
The Witch of Edmonton, RSC, 2014
TheWhite Devil, RSC 2014
The Roaring Girl, RSC 2014
The Taming of The Shrew, RSC 2012

BOB DYLAN CREDITS:

1. One More Cup of Coffee
2. Spirit on the Water.
3. Up to Me.
4. One Too Many Mornings.
5. All Along the Watchtower.
6. Sugar Baby.
7. Not Dark Yet.