65th RSC performance of Hamlet (my 22nd)
I'm sure I'm going to be totally shattered by the end of the week, with working 11 hours each day, going to Hamlet in the evening, not getting home until 12.15am and then getting up at 6.00am to do it all again the next day but equally I'm sure that I'm gong to look back at what a brilliant, fun time I've had this week!
Originally I was "only" going on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week but then some front row seats came up on the Novello website for Wednesday and a friend dropped out of meeting up tonight at the same time that they had front row in the Grand Circle on the site so I decided to go again tonight as it'll give me a good chance to try out my new binoculars!
Unfortunately when I got to the theatre, there were signs to say that David Tennant had hurt his back and would be unable to perform tonight so instead Edward Bennett would be playing Hamlet instead which meant that Tom Davey would play Laertes and the guy who plays one of the “spear-carriers” would play Guildenstern. I tossed about whether or not to go in (as I’m starting a cold) but, as I was disappointed that I’d missed the understudy performance of the play in Stratford, I decided to attend and I was glad that I had.
First of all, Gregory Doran came out to explain that DT had hurt his back and had battled through Friday and Saturday nights performances and then explained that this was Edward’s first performance as Hamlet. (A friend later mentioned that she wondered if tonight’s cancellation was more precautionary as the Press Night is tomorrow evening.)
I had to remind myself that Edward was playing his version of Hamlet and not David Tennant’s version but despite that, I thought he was still better than the guy who played Hamlet in Bristol. Personally though I thought he was eclipsed by Tom Davey stepping into Laertes’ shoes. I’ve never been too impressed by Edward’s portray as Laertes as I thought he was rather flat but I thought Tom brought him much more to life and played him with more passion.
Edward did gabble rather through all the speeches (which I know is a sign of nerves), for example the “To be or not to be” speech he must have done in just over a minute and the “Too, too solid flesh” speech he delivered in an angry way rather than a depressed one.
There were a few mistakes though, the most obvious of which was that Hamlet did not light the match after he had shot Polonius so the stage was all in darkness as they continued the scene! Eventually someone off stage turned a light on before Hamlet turned on the light switch behind the bedside cabinet!
Hamlet also missed out a lot of his speech about Denmark being a prison and there were a few other slips like him actually joining in the drink at the celebration and saying a few words wrong during the play within the play, plus not wearing the crown off stage after the play so he couldn’t wear it in the bedroom scene.
Tonight Hamlet reverted to “your philosophy” and not “our philosophy” as David Tennant has been saying.
Hamlet dragged Ophelia round the stage by her hair a bit in the nunnery scene.
Country was said as one word tonight!
The sword fight was slightly stilted but I thought Edward did really well considering he was doing the opposite moves to how he usually plays it.
At the end of the play (about 5 minutes earlier than normal due to the pace!), Edward received a massive round of applause and it was nice to see that the theatre was still quite full.
I didn’t use the binoculars as much as I would have if David Tennant had been playing hamlet but they certainly brought their faces into clear view from the Grand Circle!
Next performance for me: Tuesday (9th)!
