I
was lucky enough to get a ticket for the live broadcast of the buzzy and
acclaimed theatre production of Hamlet at the Barbican, starring Benedict
Cumberbatch in the titular role. Since
the show was sold out in minutes, I opted to
watch it in the cinemas instead.
Sitting
in the theatre with a complementary glass of champagne, I became strangely
nervous, only from the anticipation. The broadcast started with a small
interview with Benedict about his role in the production, followed by a trip to
a school where a few students performed the To Be Or Not To Be soliloquy,
repeating the words in whispers.
Lyndsay
Turner’s Hamlet opens with Hamlet sitting by a chest of clothes listening to
Nat King Cole’s Nature Boy on a phonograph, in mourning for his father. This is complicated
even further by the fact that his mother married his uncle in less than a month
after his death.
Speaking
to Horatio and then delivering his first soliloquy, Benedict’s Hamlet is a
grief-stricken child who has lost his innocence. His eyes are full of tears, which stream down
and mingle with sweat, his hand trembles and his voice breaks as he speaks. Putting all of that real emotion into a performance,
on stage or on screen, a method of acting called “in the moment”, is something
all actors should follow, in my opinion.
Hamlet
then meets his father’s ghost, who tells him that his uncle Claudius murdered
him for the throne. This is the moment where he supposedly goes mad. However,
it is very clear in this production that he is simply faking it for others to
see. Benedict demonstrates his comedic skills in the scene where he dresses up
as a toy soldier, strutting wildly across the room, feigning madness in front
of Polonius, before succumbing to sadness once he leaves. This is when the
famous To Be Or Not To Be soliloquy comes to light. The “Get Thee To a Nunnery”
scene was rushed and didn’t linger too much on the extreme harshness of the words.
Benedict’s
Hamlet is very easy to root for, despite the many crimes he commits, such his
cruelty to his mother Gertrude and Ophelia, and the killing of Polonius, and
subsequently driving Ophelia mad. The
profound misogyny demonstrated by Hamlet is somewhat spirited away by his faked
madness. This and other confrontational acts are not as physically demonstrated
like in many other productions.
Now
for the rest of the cast, they all did pretty well. Sian Brooke as Ophelia was
the perfect portrayal of a delicate innocence destroyed by the senseless (and
unexpected) murder of her father. She shines brilliantly in the second half
when she goes mad; she has patches of bald on her head, she cries while
singing, and her mental instability is also physical, as she walks with a limp
across the stage.
Annastasia Hille as Gertrude was also incredibly amazing, and her speech to Laertes about
the accidental (or suicidal) drowning of his sister Ophelia is heart-breaking.
I
didn’t get emotional at the action-packed tragic ending, because I knew already
what was to come.
Whenever
I watch a version of Hamlet, I’m reminded, of course, by The Lion King, which was
loosely based on the play. Claudius is Scar, by comparison, though in this
play, he is not as evil, regretting his crimes a little.
Another
thing I enjoyed the most in this production is the use of slow motion by the
actors. When Hamlet delivers a speech during a dinner at the beginning, the
rest of the actors carry on slowly in the darkened background.
The
set was absolutely beautiful, making use of a chandelier at the beginning and
then reducing part of the set in ashes and dust by the second half.
All
in all, I was utterly blown away by the play. I had once before seen only
Kenneth Branagh’s four-hour cinema version of it, and I must say it fails in
comparison to Lyndsey Turner’s shortened and modernised version.
After
the whole cast took their bows, Benedict took a moment to urge the audience to
donate money to the Save The Children foundation, to aid the refugee crises. It’s
yet another reminder that the actor is completely selfless and wants to use his
fame to highlight important and tragic issues going on in the world. It was an unforgettable experience. Too bad I can
only see it once.
