Here is 'Hamlet', plain and simpleReviewer: Steven Carroll
'Hamlet' has different meanings for different ages. For Coleridge and the Romantics the prince was the elevated dreamy poet, for many 30s and 40s critics his procrastination was synonymous with appeasement. To a Marxist the play reflects the turn of the dialectical screw - someone caught in the fragmentary world of humanist individualism longing for the security of the old world of mediaeval patriarchy.
In Neil Armfield's version, the imagery is suggestive of a crumbling European republic; the costumes a mixture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The set appears to be a crypt - grey walls, wilting flowers of remembrance; very minimalist. All of which matches the mainly restrained approach.
This is a plain speaking 'Hamlet', one which for the most part makes for intimate, immediate Shakespeare. But one that with the more lyrical lines can appear like flat acting.
Of course, its the title role that determines the play's success and Richard Roxbrugh's prince holds things together. Armfield's notes refer to Hamlet as a method actor finding his way, and Roxbrugh's approach seems to reflect this.
The angst and the anger in the performance gradually build as Hamlet rumbles in and about the chaos of his upturned world. It's an uncluttered performance: clean lines; simple delivery; Beckettesque and, in this sense, impersonal. No Coleridgean melancholy here, and perhaps there should have been because I didn't sense the longing and sadness of Hamlet's performance. This was especially true of "To be or not to be", which was too low key and prosaic.
But it's a strong performance and the Belvoir Street troupe - some unevenness aside - is tightly knit. Geoffrey Rush's moving and well judged Horatio is as much an observer as a participant in the action; Peter Carroll's old school Polonius almost threatens to steal the show; and Jacek Koman's Claudius has the menace of a despot about him.
Cate Blanchett's Ophelia is emotionally charged but superbly controlled acting.
'Hamlet' is no easy ask, but this production is definitely worth seeing. If the opening is flat, some scenes - such as Hamlet's confrontation with Gertrude (poignantly played by Gillian Jones) - really take off.
The Sunday Age, September 24th , 1995.
Aussie Cate Online © 1999 Lin, Dean, Lance
800x600 screen size recommended.