Hamlet: To be or not to be? A play to definitely be at.

In director Nicholas Hytner’s highly anticipated production of the tragic Prince Hamlet, Hytner has taken to London’s The National Theatre to breathe new life into the classic Shakespearian tragedy.

Now there have been many Hamlets to grace the stage and screen, there was the classical Shakespearian portrayal by Laurence Olivier, and even Dr Who’s David Tennant had a crack at it. Hytner however, found his Hamlet in the “great emotional nakedness” of Rory Kinnear, and what a perfect choice that was. As soon as the lights go up, the audience is thrown head first into the loathing and grief trapped within the suit clad Hamlet, after the death of his father.

With a setting that resembles David Cameron’s office, Hytner has trapped his cast within the fractured rooms of the castle, with security stationed at every corner to ensure  there is no escape for the vulnerable Hamlet. This prison in which Hytner has enclosed Hamlet in, creates a new sense of sympathy for the trapped Prince, as we watch him pacing up and down like a caged animal, with no where to run and no where to hide. 

While wallowing in his misery and his many soliloquies, Hamlet is informed that his father’s ghost has been spotted, and Hamlet is desperate for answers. As shadows consume the stage, the ghost (played by James Laurenson) emerges, looking a bit like he’s been covered in flour, (which to me was teetering on becoming a complete cliché) as if to symbolise that he is something forgotten and whose memory had been cast aside.

Hytner uses no cheesy fog, or cliché sound effects, instead he allows the hollowing voice of Laurenson to chill the audience and Hamlet, as he tells his child he must kill his uncle Claudius (played by Patrick Malahide) who had murdered him for the crown. Hamlet then falls into a spiral of grief, and Kinnear finally delivers a Hamlet which seems less like a loony-bin, and more like a man who is simply has having trouble dealing with a situation he has no control over.

Alongside Kinnear, Clare Higgins gives a stirring performance, as she takes on the role of Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. The raw emotion of her lines, and the tribulation in her expression, as she watches the deterioration of her child, is the stuff of true theatre.

As the play goes on and the cast begin to drop like flies, the audience is left with the bitter after taste of the true brutality of life, and the effects our society can have on our minds, (especially Hytner’s use of security guards around the stage, to show this sense of domination). Shakespeare created a true vision into the vulnerabilities of our minds, and whether we are strong enough to survive the pains that life throws at us, which Hytner has brought to life with full force.

Surrounded by the choices of good and bad, right and wrong, for the first time audiences will see Hamlet not as a simple cliché of madness, but as a portrait of natural human emotions. With a commanding cast, and a fresh new setting, never before has the beautiful words of Shakespeare translated so well into modern day theatre. Hytner has successfully captured our hearts with the perfect Hamlet for a 21^st century audience.

Cast:

Rory Kinnear (Quantum of Solace, Mansfield Park),

Matthew Barker (Eastenders),

David Calder (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor),

Marcus Cunningham (Dr Who),

Jake Fairbrother,

Clare Higgins (The Golden Compass, Stage Beauty),

Ferdinand Kingsley,

Alex Lanipekun (Spooks),

James Laurenson (The Cat‘s Meow, Prime Suspect),

Patrick Malahide (Quills, Billy Elliot),

Ruth Negga (Criminal Justice),

James Pearse (Eastenders),

Saskia Portway (The Giblet Boys),

Victor Power (Watermelon),

Prasanna Puwanarajah (The Path to 9/11),

Nick Sampson (Eastenders),

Michael Sheldon (Jack of Diamonds),

Leo Staar,

Zara Tempest-Walters,

Giles Terera (Doctors),

Ellie Turner

Author: William Shakespeare

Director: Nicholas Hytner (The History Boys and The Madness of King George)

Music by: Alex Baranowski

Sound: Paul Groothuis

Lighting designer: Jon Clark

Designer: Vicki Mortimer