(no subject)
No, I don't have a Hamlet problem.
I went to see the National Theatre Live showing of the Rory Kinnear's Hamlet - http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/15342-hamlet.
The fun thing is that I wouldn't have known about the National Theatre doing this kind of thing if it hadn't been for evilgmbethy which, given that she lives an ocean away, might tell you something about how well the NT do their advertising over here.
They are forgiven for that, and for the terrible lighting in the opening scene and the occasional technical hitch on Cineworld's end because oh, it's a good Hamlet.
Rory Kinnear's Hamlet sails past both my tests for a good Hamlet, in that I didn't think "oh get on with it" at him at any point nor did I end up actively cheering for Laertes. He looks like an over-grown student and still looks young enough to be Hamlet*. There's something so soft about him that I wanted to go "oi, Claudius, stop being mean to your nephew". And the look on his face when he realises that Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have betrayed him.
I love that they gave the background characters stuff to do, like the look of horror on Bernardo's face when he sees the old King's portrait, and the courtiers's screaming terror at every new attack.
I admit I was a bit dubious when they were bigging up the surveillance theme in the intro but they actually went through with it, using their budget so that there was always someone in security uniforms in the wings watching, and how they treated Ophelia and oh, it was a well done theme. Funny thing was some twenty-something early fuddy-duddies in the audience were tutting about that and I'm like no, this was a good thing.**
And then opening bit with Claudius doing his speech as a "King's Christmas Broadcast/Fireside chat" thing was clever, as was the ending with Osric and the rest of the courtiers glad-handing Fortinbras and choosing to ignore Horatio because the truth is dangerous and oh, I did like what they did.
It wasn't perfect, see above complaints about the lighting, but it was good.
* which is pretty good going given that it turns out he's a good 5 years older than I though he was. This is not a dealbreaker for me, neither of my favourite Hamlets are young enough to play him.
** then again they were comparing this negatively to the Tennant Hamlet which IMO wasn't as good as this and I realise matters of taste are subjective but they're wrong and I'm right.
I went to see the National Theatre Live showing of the Rory Kinnear's Hamlet - http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/15342-hamlet.
The fun thing is that I wouldn't have known about the National Theatre doing this kind of thing if it hadn't been for evilgmbethy which, given that she lives an ocean away, might tell you something about how well the NT do their advertising over here.
They are forgiven for that, and for the terrible lighting in the opening scene and the occasional technical hitch on Cineworld's end because oh, it's a good Hamlet.
Rory Kinnear's Hamlet sails past both my tests for a good Hamlet, in that I didn't think "oh get on with it" at him at any point nor did I end up actively cheering for Laertes. He looks like an over-grown student and still looks young enough to be Hamlet*. There's something so soft about him that I wanted to go "oi, Claudius, stop being mean to your nephew". And the look on his face when he realises that Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have betrayed him.
I love that they gave the background characters stuff to do, like the look of horror on Bernardo's face when he sees the old King's portrait, and the courtiers's screaming terror at every new attack.
I admit I was a bit dubious when they were bigging up the surveillance theme in the intro but they actually went through with it, using their budget so that there was always someone in security uniforms in the wings watching, and how they treated Ophelia and oh, it was a well done theme. Funny thing was some twenty-something early fuddy-duddies in the audience were tutting about that and I'm like no, this was a good thing.**
And then opening bit with Claudius doing his speech as a "King's Christmas Broadcast/Fireside chat" thing was clever, as was the ending with Osric and the rest of the courtiers glad-handing Fortinbras and choosing to ignore Horatio because the truth is dangerous and oh, I did like what they did.
It wasn't perfect, see above complaints about the lighting, but it was good.
* which is pretty good going given that it turns out he's a good 5 years older than I though he was. This is not a dealbreaker for me, neither of my favourite Hamlets are young enough to play him.
** then again they were comparing this negatively to the Tennant Hamlet which IMO wasn't as good as this and I realise matters of taste are subjective but they're wrong and I'm right.