Hamlet (RSC–BBC–DVD–2010)
It’s been said that Shakespeare’s version of the 11th Century Danish legend of Prince Amuled, HAMLET, was the most popular Shakespearean play in the 20th Century (RICHARD III was apparently the nineteenth century’s fave), so the dozens of film and television versions (European, American and Asian) have been as varied as Sir Laurence Olivier’s 1948 psychologically-astute, black-and-white, Oscar Best Picture winner and Mel Gibson’s filming-of-the-plot (1991), alongside Kenneth Branaugh’s 1996 adaptation making the most of its almost four-hour length, means that the melancholy Dane’s mental tribulations reflect all of humanities concerns with revenge, love, and murder.
To take its rightful place as one of the best ever is director Gregory Doran’s film of his successful Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of a couple of years ago. Starring David Tennant as young Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as his conniving uncle/step-father (how Appalachian!), this extraordinary version – performed on a polished-glass flooring in a semi-modern Elsinore, which has CCTV spy-cameras in every room, really puts the mental screws to Hamlet over his desire to avenge his father’s murder by the poisonous hand of the new King, Claudius, brother to Hamlet’s father, and now husband to his mother.
All the elements of sorrow, fury, mad-humor, and thoughts of suicide are presented her exactly as needed to tell this elemental story. It is exciting to watch good-to-great actors make it all come alive in front of us. And there’s no need for a Shakespearean glossary to follow it – Tennant’s courageous performance, along with everyone else’s professionalism – makes it a glorious visit to the “rotten” kingdom of Denmark.
There are times when what the British do well in the classics becomes the template for the rest of us in American theatre: well-spoken, thoughtfully executed, exciting ideas that are riveting and end up worth the time and money spent. Tennant is an especially gifted actor in that he is able to suborn his own personality to take up the cudgels of the character. He plays off other actors well and, apparently, gives back. His is a brilliant Hamlet. And better, even, than his Doctor Who.
The technical aspects of this drama are also exemplary: the sets and costume design of Robert Jones, Chris Seager’s excellent photography, the crisp editing of Tony Cranston, and composer Paul Englishby’s sonorous score – all support director Doran’s vision. This production is a keeper and one to teach from.