Hamlet (some early thoughts)
Well, I say early, but it's been a few days, hasn't it? Early for me, the slowly delurking lurker, then.
Oh, but I loved this production. Really, really loved it. Right off the bat I loved it in an uncritical, squeee kind of way. The bare feet! The shirt! The manic humor (which doesn't, alas, come across well in all Hamlets)! And as time passes, I'm also coming to know it and love it in a somewhat more measured, processed, how-do-I-like-these-interpretations-of-characters-and-scenes kind of way.
I've been juggling a number of projects over the past few days--both professional (god, putting together an index is a loooong and tedious job) and personal (knitting, time with kids, etc.). So I've only been able to watch this version once, and then pieces of it again here and there.
Eventually I want to watch it again, in one sitting. And then I'd like to rewatch a few of my other favorite versions and write a little bit on the different choices, what's gained and what's lost in the various approaches.
Until then, though, a few notes on what struck me.
1. I love this Horatio. Really love him. I don't remember ever having such a strong reaction to a Horatio. I felt like they were really, truly, deeply friends. Part of this has to do with DT's performance: the way he rushes to him when Horatio first arrives, the way he turns to him in horror when he discovers the body is Ophelia's. And part of it is the directing: the way R&G are so clearly second rate to Horatio, particularly in the post-mousetrap scene, where they play the recorders together and Horatio is so clearly standing with Hamlet against the gathering forces of the castle. But mostly it's this actor. He's so expressive, not just in his face, but in his posture. I need to see more of this actor.
(A question: did anyone else think, in the moments right after the mousetrap, that perhaps Horatio was not entirely convinced of Claudius' guilt? I remember thinking maybe he wasn't. I'll have to watch that again more carefully.)
2. This Ophelia grew on me. I've read a number of people who don't seem sold on her performance, and I confess that the early scenes with Hamlet are a bit lackluster for me. (Though I love the bit with the siblings competing to recite Polonius' hackneyed advice back to him; I thought that scene worked *very* well.) But she sold me in the mad scene. I'm a huge fan of both Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter, but I don't remember being scared for Ophelia (or for the people around her) the way I was in this production. The tearing off of the clothing, the mockery of Claudius' mannerisms, the invasions of physical space, the whirling dervish dance: it all worked for me in a scene that often leaves me unmoved.
3. The closet scene. Holy crap. Scary and sad and utterly believable. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the director and actors for dropping all the icky and unnecessary Oedipal readings. And thank you for that great moment where, when Hamlet tells Gertrude to "live the purer with the other half," she laughs. I can't even figure out what all the emotions are that are tied up in that laugh. But oh it works for me. As does their reconciliation. And the final "Good night, mother."
4. The readiness is all moment. This gets back to #1--in which I fall in love with this Horatio. But mostly it has to do with DT, who was marvelous and manic and compelling and real throughout the whole play. But here it slows down for me, and I mean that in a good way. I'm inclined to say, with some trepidation, that it struck me as a very Doctor moment. There are some things that are fixed in time. They must happen. It doesn't do to fight against it. The readiness is all. Lovely, just lovely. I heard that speech anew.
So, those are my early thoughts. Thanks for reading this far! More to come before too long, I hope.
Oh, but I loved this production. Really, really loved it. Right off the bat I loved it in an uncritical, squeee kind of way. The bare feet! The shirt! The manic humor (which doesn't, alas, come across well in all Hamlets)! And as time passes, I'm also coming to know it and love it in a somewhat more measured, processed, how-do-I-like-these-interpretations-of-characters-and-scenes kind of way.
I've been juggling a number of projects over the past few days--both professional (god, putting together an index is a loooong and tedious job) and personal (knitting, time with kids, etc.). So I've only been able to watch this version once, and then pieces of it again here and there.
Eventually I want to watch it again, in one sitting. And then I'd like to rewatch a few of my other favorite versions and write a little bit on the different choices, what's gained and what's lost in the various approaches.
Until then, though, a few notes on what struck me.
1. I love this Horatio. Really love him. I don't remember ever having such a strong reaction to a Horatio. I felt like they were really, truly, deeply friends. Part of this has to do with DT's performance: the way he rushes to him when Horatio first arrives, the way he turns to him in horror when he discovers the body is Ophelia's. And part of it is the directing: the way R&G are so clearly second rate to Horatio, particularly in the post-mousetrap scene, where they play the recorders together and Horatio is so clearly standing with Hamlet against the gathering forces of the castle. But mostly it's this actor. He's so expressive, not just in his face, but in his posture. I need to see more of this actor.
(A question: did anyone else think, in the moments right after the mousetrap, that perhaps Horatio was not entirely convinced of Claudius' guilt? I remember thinking maybe he wasn't. I'll have to watch that again more carefully.)
2. This Ophelia grew on me. I've read a number of people who don't seem sold on her performance, and I confess that the early scenes with Hamlet are a bit lackluster for me. (Though I love the bit with the siblings competing to recite Polonius' hackneyed advice back to him; I thought that scene worked *very* well.) But she sold me in the mad scene. I'm a huge fan of both Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter, but I don't remember being scared for Ophelia (or for the people around her) the way I was in this production. The tearing off of the clothing, the mockery of Claudius' mannerisms, the invasions of physical space, the whirling dervish dance: it all worked for me in a scene that often leaves me unmoved.
3. The closet scene. Holy crap. Scary and sad and utterly believable. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the director and actors for dropping all the icky and unnecessary Oedipal readings. And thank you for that great moment where, when Hamlet tells Gertrude to "live the purer with the other half," she laughs. I can't even figure out what all the emotions are that are tied up in that laugh. But oh it works for me. As does their reconciliation. And the final "Good night, mother."
4. The readiness is all moment. This gets back to #1--in which I fall in love with this Horatio. But mostly it has to do with DT, who was marvelous and manic and compelling and real throughout the whole play. But here it slows down for me, and I mean that in a good way. I'm inclined to say, with some trepidation, that it struck me as a very Doctor moment. There are some things that are fixed in time. They must happen. It doesn't do to fight against it. The readiness is all. Lovely, just lovely. I heard that speech anew.
So, those are my early thoughts. Thanks for reading this far! More to come before too long, I hope.