Hamlet 9/25

[Lumen2]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 5:36pm

I finally saw Hamlet, thanks to my student ID, and I have to bow down to the general consensus here.

I was ambivalent about the production; the pacing was slow and a lot of the actors didn’t seem to put a lot of emotion into it. Jude Law was pretty outstanding, but all in all I felt like I was watching Jude Law in an insane asylum, not Hamlet. Which isn’t terrible, to be honest, but a bit of a downer.
The element in the theatre wasn’t what I expected. Well, it was, but not in a good way. Basically a lot of young women and preppy gay guys who were fawning over Jude (not that I blame them) who said it was “brilliant.” One of the girls behind me said “The guy playing Fortinbras is amazing!” at which point I had to restrain myself from jumping into her row and choking her. 50% of the set was recycled from Mary Stuart, which was aggravating, but it worked fine. The lighting was spectacular, very dramatic and finished, but the costumes seriously looked like they were lifted from a J. Crew catalog. And a lot of the women wore palazzo pants, I wasn’t sure what that was about. The guy playing Polonius was pretty much a munchkin robot, short and stout, delivering his lines in complete monotone. Ophelia was good, but much too self-effacing; she really receded into the background in every scene she was in, even when she went stark raving mad handing flowers to everyone.
The staging was a little rudimentary. A lot of it felt very mechanical, with most of the actors fleeing the stage when Hamlet needed to do a soliloquy. But I did enjoy the way the director staged Polonius’ death.
I would suggest it to see Jude Law on stage, not to see an incredible production of Shakespeare.
One thing that was commendable: when the characters were dead, the actors didn’t move.

[frapperia]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 6:53pm

Yeah, it's a pity, but the only reason I can see it transferred to Broadway is the star pulling power of Jude, because it's certainly not a good enough production (unlike the upcoming La Cage, or ALNM) to merit it otherwise. The Tennant Hamlet is coming out on PBS/DVD next spring, I would recommend watching/buying that if you want to see a truly wonderful production of the play.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 7:01pm

But answer this question: did he sign autographs after the matinee?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 9:53pm

That's great to hear about the Tennant production!

[Lumen2]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 10:24pm

I didn't go to the matinee.

But, I waited for him to come out, and there were just too many people. My friend went the week before, and she said he signed like only 11 autographs.

[frapperia]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 10:47pm

Mattbrain - it is in my top five productions ever, I can't WAIT to get my grubby mitts on it. Such an incredible ensemble!

And as far as autograph signing goes, I can imagine it's insane for Jude. I saw pictures from when it was at Wyndhams. It looked terrifying (for him). Why do people have to be such psychos?

[April Saul]

Posted: 9/26/09 at 11:20pm

Crazy as it sounds, Sienna Miller grabbed me by the throat and really got to me by the end of After Miss Julie in a way that Jude Law's Hamlet did not...but I find it hard to put my finger on why Hamlet did not move me as much as I'd hoped, so it's interesting to read the comments here.