Thursday 24th July - First Night of Hamlet

Photo from The Telegraph

Let me start this by saying that, apart from the Mel Gibson film, the only other performance of Hamlet that I’ve seen was the Jonathon Miller production in Bristol back in April so I’m not an expert on productions of the play although I do know it quite well.

In the Bristol version, basically Hamlet stood still and delivered his lines and played a much darker melancholy version. In the RSC version on the first night David Tennant was dashing all over the stage which I thought really played to his strengths as it was a far more energetic performance, with some dark spots but they also emphasised the comical aspects a lot more. The way I saw it is that the RSC must know that for this run they are going to get far more people here who do not usually go to see Shakespeare’s plays and so this play has been geared to appeal more to the masses and this production is absolutely perfect for that. Whether you know the play inside out or you don’t have a clue about the storyline, you will still get something substantial out of it.

The production makes brilliant use of the whole space. There are two walkways at the audience end of the stage (plus Hamlet walks up to the front of the stage at one point) and there are lots of exists and entrances using these walkways. (You can see lots of the props waiting to be used as you walk into the theatre too!) The back of the stage is about 6 massive mirrors which are opened and shut at times, plus they are used when Polonius is shot and to reproduce the sea behind the Ghost. They also have a number of chandlers that are lowered and raised, as well as a couple of actors being suspended above the stage at one point. They also make a hole in the stage for Ophelia’s grave so the whole production has been well thought out although I do wonder how they’ll do it when they move to London where the stage is at the front.

When they first came out in modern dress, I didn’t really like it but it soon grew on me and gave a great opportunity for costume changes. (I certainly didn’t expect to see Ophelia dancing around the stage in just her bra and knickers at one point!)

I won’t go through the whole play but the beginning was very effective as he first 3 or 4 minutes was one watchman walking around the stage on patrol. Horatio and Marcellus then come out and they turn off all the lights so we can only see by the light of their torches which is very effective when the Ghost appears and you can really feel the fear. There was one part when both torches went out and I heard later that that was not supposed to have happened!

Cutting to the end of the play, the swordfight scene was really spectacular! It must have taken loads of rehearsal and not only was it sword fighting but there was physical fighting in part too.

A mention must be given too to the scene either side of the interval as it was a stroke of genius to end the first half and start the second half mid-scene!

When David Tennant first walked on stage (and walked out straight at us!) all I could think of was that he loked very Bredan Block-looking as he was wearing a suit and his hair was slicked back with a very sterrn face.

The other really dramatic scene for me was when Hamlet was in Gertrude’s bedroom. David Tennant really went for it in that scene and Penny Downie (who plays Gertrude) was really thrown around a lot. At one point they knocked the beside lamp over! I’m not sure if that was supposed to happen or not but I’m going again on Saturday night so I’ll remember to notice it then! There was a slight mistake when Hamlet shot Polonius as the gunshot happened before David had actually fired the gun and the shattered mirror didn’t appear quite as quick as I think should have happened but it’s the sort of thing you expect to see in the previews.

The main thing I was disappointed about (or maybe surprised) was that Claudius came across more as a benevolent king rather than the villain of the play. This is the guy who murdered his own brother and then married his brother’s wife and yet, apart from the plotting with Laertes, anybody who doesn’t really know the play would not easily get the impression that he’s the real baddie IMHO. In the other productions I’ve seen Claudius has been played with more benevolence. He’s also portrayed in this production as being quite deeply in love with Gertrude (and not just using her to be king) and yet he showed virtually no emotion when she died.

I think the attention to detail was really impressive and made a difference to my enjoyment of the play. Things like Hamlet cuts his hand in one of the first scenes and then has a bandage on his hand through the next scenes until he goes to England. Also, when Hamlet has been banished and looks as though he is living rough, David Tennant had stubble on his face which was later washed off when he returns to Denmark.

Obviously I knew the play was going to be cut due to its length but I was surprised that they cut part of the To Be Or Not To Be speech as I thought that was one of the best known ones (they cut out a few lines from The oppressors wrong part). I was disappointed that they cut most of the “Though I am a native here and to the manor born” speech. That’s one of my favourite speeches of the play but obviously it’s not an important one as both the Bristol production and this RSC one cut out the majority of it!

We booked tickets for this almost a year ago and when we sat in our seats (in row E so we had a great view) we both actually remarked that we couldn’t believe that we were finally here tonight!

There was just too much to take in watching one performance so I’m so glad that I had the forethought to book several performances! I drove up with a friend and we spoke about it the whole two and a half hours drive home!

(Apparently Gordon Brown, Arabella Weir and Richard Wilson were all at this performance but I didn’t spot any of them.)

Next performance for me: Saturday 26^th July