DAVID TENNANT'S HAMLET CURED MY COLD.
Ok, not literally, I'm still a little sniffly. And no, I didn't get to meet him - I queued outside the stage door, and saw him when he came out to sign stuff, but it was an absolute scrum and I was three rows back and so didn't get near. But hey, I wanted to see his Hamlet, anything else would have been extras. And the Hamlet did rock.
What delighted me was how adolescent he plays him. When I first heard he was doing it, I thought he'd be quite a thoughtful, mature Hamlet, cos in the nicest possible way, he's at the top end of the age range you need to be for the role. But - and this is the true power of stage acting - he managed to create someone much younger, all through body language and tone of voice (the fact he's so skinny helps ;) ). And not just younger but less mature - in the first few scenes he's intelligent and depressed and perfect in court etiquette etc, but he's also a sheltered aristocrat: he almost whines about how cold it is waiting for the Ghost.
Talking about it with my parents afterwards, my Dad argued that he played him as genuinely mad, whereas my Mum said the madness was put on. I think it's somewhere between the two. The 'antic disposition' scenes, particularly with Oliver Ford Davies' hilarious Polonius, are definitely Hamlet putting on an act. It's in these scenes that he comes across as most Doctor-like, which is fitting really, because 'If this be madness, yet there's method in't' has to be the most apt description of Ten ever.
But the point is, from the moment he encounters the Ghost, I think something important does snap, for his Hamlet; he does become genuinely unhinged, a bit functionally psychotic. You can see in scenes with Horatio (Peter De Jersey, very steadfast and sympathetic) and Gertrude (Penny Downie, who is excellent. I think with a lot of Gertrudes you never get a sense of how much they know and when, but with her, you can really see it) that they're sad for him and humouring him, almost.
Because of that I think the final tragedy for his Hamlet is that by the end he has become quite cold and ruthless and pragmatic - exactly like Patrick Stewart's Claudius. He becomes the thing he has to destroy. O TEH IRONIES.
Patrick Stewart was frighteningly good as always. Absolutely in control except in his most private moments. For example, in the play-within-a-play scene, he doesn't start, or look guilty, or anything like that. He merely stands, walks right up to Hamlet and shakes his head. To everyone onstage, as if the king is merely dismayed or offended; to Hamlet and the audience, 'you'll have to try harder than that, sunshine'.
He genuinely loves Gertrude I think - but not as much as his crown. His 'It is the poisoned cup. It is too late' is a quiet aside to Laertes, a 'that's deeply unfortunate, but we're still on course'. The man's a genius.
Mariah Gale is a great Ophelia (deeply as I resent the fact that this is the second time this year I've had to watch her getting up close and personal with someone I really fancy); she plays it very young as well, aided by her very girly costumes, all short dresses and pedal pushers. She goes mad almost from being ignored by everyone: you really get the impression in her scenes with Polonius, Gertrude and Claudius that they're talking over and around her, never to her. And she goes genuinely, unsettlingly barking, not sweetly poignantly mad like many Ophelias.
Good god, I didn't think I was going to write this much. Quickly, what else did I like?
* Shallow alert. The costuming is fantastic. Dave looks deeply yummy. He's barefoot a lot of the time and um...I never thought of myself as a foot person before, but...*blush* Indeed at one point he's barefoot, in a tux, with his bowtie all unlaced and a crown stuck all askew on his head. GUH. To be or not to be? Barefoot, jeans, red T-shirt. Final duel? Jeans and a fencing tunic. IT'S ALL GOOD, PEOPLE. (Am deeply covetous of Gertrude's formalwear as well)
* I love love love his first encounter with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In a lot of productions, Hamlet reacts sort of 'Oh, I knew Claudius would try something like this', but here he's genuinely thrown by them showing up, and you get to see him thinking on his feet to deal with it. Great stuff. Did I mention Greg Doran directed this? I have never seen a bad Greg Doran production at the RSC. And I've seen a lot of them.
* The play within a play looks fantastic. The dumb show is hilariously disturbing, or disturbingly hilarious, a mix of Leigh Bowery, League of Gentlemen and Little Britain. And the actual play is done in these amazing highly stylised black and gold Elizabethan costumes.
* The mirrored set. Could have been a bit hackneyed but they do some great things with it.
* Fortinbras' first appearance. They use the Fortinbras stuff just enough to emphasise that events in Elsinore spell the end of a dynasty, but not enough to drag the pacing.
* BEST - AND MOST 'DUH, WHY DID NO ONE THINK OF THAT BEFORE' - PLACE FOR AN INTERVAL. EVER. And one that could be construed as a shout-out to Doctor Who cliffhangers, now I think about it.
* To be or not to be does work better in that part, damnit.
What delighted me was how adolescent he plays him. When I first heard he was doing it, I thought he'd be quite a thoughtful, mature Hamlet, cos in the nicest possible way, he's at the top end of the age range you need to be for the role. But - and this is the true power of stage acting - he managed to create someone much younger, all through body language and tone of voice (the fact he's so skinny helps ;) ). And not just younger but less mature - in the first few scenes he's intelligent and depressed and perfect in court etiquette etc, but he's also a sheltered aristocrat: he almost whines about how cold it is waiting for the Ghost.
Talking about it with my parents afterwards, my Dad argued that he played him as genuinely mad, whereas my Mum said the madness was put on. I think it's somewhere between the two. The 'antic disposition' scenes, particularly with Oliver Ford Davies' hilarious Polonius, are definitely Hamlet putting on an act. It's in these scenes that he comes across as most Doctor-like, which is fitting really, because 'If this be madness, yet there's method in't' has to be the most apt description of Ten ever.
But the point is, from the moment he encounters the Ghost, I think something important does snap, for his Hamlet; he does become genuinely unhinged, a bit functionally psychotic. You can see in scenes with Horatio (Peter De Jersey, very steadfast and sympathetic) and Gertrude (Penny Downie, who is excellent. I think with a lot of Gertrudes you never get a sense of how much they know and when, but with her, you can really see it) that they're sad for him and humouring him, almost.
Because of that I think the final tragedy for his Hamlet is that by the end he has become quite cold and ruthless and pragmatic - exactly like Patrick Stewart's Claudius. He becomes the thing he has to destroy. O TEH IRONIES.
Patrick Stewart was frighteningly good as always. Absolutely in control except in his most private moments. For example, in the play-within-a-play scene, he doesn't start, or look guilty, or anything like that. He merely stands, walks right up to Hamlet and shakes his head. To everyone onstage, as if the king is merely dismayed or offended; to Hamlet and the audience, 'you'll have to try harder than that, sunshine'.
He genuinely loves Gertrude I think - but not as much as his crown. His 'It is the poisoned cup. It is too late' is a quiet aside to Laertes, a 'that's deeply unfortunate, but we're still on course'. The man's a genius.
Mariah Gale is a great Ophelia (deeply as I resent the fact that this is the second time this year I've had to watch her getting up close and personal with someone I really fancy); she plays it very young as well, aided by her very girly costumes, all short dresses and pedal pushers. She goes mad almost from being ignored by everyone: you really get the impression in her scenes with Polonius, Gertrude and Claudius that they're talking over and around her, never to her. And she goes genuinely, unsettlingly barking, not sweetly poignantly mad like many Ophelias.
Good god, I didn't think I was going to write this much. Quickly, what else did I like?
* Shallow alert. The costuming is fantastic. Dave looks deeply yummy. He's barefoot a lot of the time and um...I never thought of myself as a foot person before, but...*blush* Indeed at one point he's barefoot, in a tux, with his bowtie all unlaced and a crown stuck all askew on his head. GUH. To be or not to be? Barefoot, jeans, red T-shirt. Final duel? Jeans and a fencing tunic. IT'S ALL GOOD, PEOPLE. (Am deeply covetous of Gertrude's formalwear as well)
* I love love love his first encounter with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In a lot of productions, Hamlet reacts sort of 'Oh, I knew Claudius would try something like this', but here he's genuinely thrown by them showing up, and you get to see him thinking on his feet to deal with it. Great stuff. Did I mention Greg Doran directed this? I have never seen a bad Greg Doran production at the RSC. And I've seen a lot of them.
* The play within a play looks fantastic. The dumb show is hilariously disturbing, or disturbingly hilarious, a mix of Leigh Bowery, League of Gentlemen and Little Britain. And the actual play is done in these amazing highly stylised black and gold Elizabethan costumes.
* The mirrored set. Could have been a bit hackneyed but they do some great things with it.
* Fortinbras' first appearance. They use the Fortinbras stuff just enough to emphasise that events in Elsinore spell the end of a dynasty, but not enough to drag the pacing.
* BEST - AND MOST 'DUH, WHY DID NO ONE THINK OF THAT BEFORE' - PLACE FOR AN INTERVAL. EVER. And one that could be construed as a shout-out to Doctor Who cliffhangers, now I think about it.
* To be or not to be does work better in that part, damnit.