Reviewed by James Karas
Many productions have
a memorable tag or theme that sticks in the mind years after we have seen them.
The current production of Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare
Company in Stratford-upon-Avon will no doubt be recalled as the Fencing Hamlet.
Jonathan Slinger as
Hamlet wears a fencing outfit throughout and fencing swords are in evidence all
the time. Fencing as the central metaphor of the pay has a number of
advantages. It qualifies Hamlet as athletic, nimble of mind and body and not
just a brooding and deeply troubled man at war with himself and the world. In
addition it makes swords available for the fights in the play. This is a modern
dress production and the presence of swords may otherwise be hard to explain. Fencing
is done wearing masks and we get the additional metaphor of hidden thoughts.
Aside from athletic, Slinger’s
Hamlet is extremely theatrical. He is a mimic, a clown, a hyperactive person
who jumps, dances and is very aggressive. In fact he assaults Ophelia, pulls
her clothes off and acts like a brute toward her. When this Hamlet goes mad he
goes completely wacko.
Slinger displays an
amazing number of vocal intonations. He can change his voice in a second to
mimic or mock other people and even himself.
When he starts the famous soliloquy, he says “To be or not to be” seriously
and then in a higher, almost comic tone he states “THAT is the question.”
His madness disappears
when he returns from England and we see yet another side of the multi-faceted
character. A phenomenal performance.
Greg Hicks plays
Claudius like a well-suited businessman. Hicks also plays Hamlet’s Ghost and
his resonant voice and strong stage presence provide for a fine performance
from this veteran Shakespearean.
Ophelia (Pippa Nixon)
in this production is a frumpy young woman who is dominated by her father. He
points his finger at her and she goes where he directs her. She looks as if she
is not all there from the start making her eventual descent into madness a
short trip.
For her mad scene she
is dressed like a bride and she shows her more forceful character when she is
away from the sane world that she left. The frumpy girl becomes a beautiful and very affecting bride. After
her burial, she is left visible on the stage during the duel between her
brother Laertes and Hamlet. A marvelous touch by Director David Farr.
Farr treats Rosencrantz
(Oliver Ryan) and Guildenstern (Nicolas Tennant) quite seriously instead of
evoking the usual laughter that is easily available at their expense. An
effective choice by the director ansd well done by the actors.
Charlotte Cornwell,
in a fancy dress and mink stole around her shoulders, is a portly Gertrude,
well past her prime. She is usually portrayed as sexually attractive woman but
not in this production. When Hamlet tells her that
“at your age /The heyday in the blood is tame” he means that both desire and
physical attractiveness have diminished. Cornwell rises to superb dramatic
heights in the bedroom scene with her son and the Ghost.
The renovated Royal Shakespeare
Theatre has a thrust stage that extends well into the audience. There is an
attempt to resemble a 17th century theatre without the open space
for the groundlings and without the open roof. The advantage of course is that
the audience is very close to the acting.
Farr makes full use
of the stage. There is an acting area at the back, a stage with a curtain in
fact, with a table and some chairs but most
of the action takes place in the open space. Farr lets the text dominate the
performance and with Shakespeare one can hardly go wrong with that approach
with good actors. Slinger especially displays the many ways that Shakespeare’s lines
can be spoken to great effect.
An outstanding
production.
_____Hamlet by William Shakespeare opened on March 14, 2013 and continues in repertory at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. http://www.rsc.org.uk/
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