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Hamlet @ Young Vic
Jan. 31st, 2012 12:09 pmHamlet:
Young Vic 18th Feb, Michael Sheen as Hamlet, Vinette Robinson as Ophelia, other people I will, er, add when I can find a cast list....
All round, v good performances. bit brain breaking as it's set in a mental asylum, and it's made very clear that Hamlet is one of the most nuts from the start. Which sadly makes me grit my teeth even more - I want to give the character a good kicking all through Acts 1 and 2 at the best of times (act 3, when he's stopped acting like such a little self-entitled shit, just about bearable). This? Stick him in a woodchipper, especially during the play when he just goes too far.
Nice notes: Polonius being paranoid as hell in a genial way and constantly recording everything and reassuring people he's recording everything. Ophelia playing a lap harp to communicate when she's really gone off her rocker. Gertrude and Claudius being in much smarter clothing and seeming much more together than everyone else to create the illusion of court. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being... basically visiting social workers or Salvation Army people, from what I could tell of their dress. The ghost is Hamlet having a fit. Which actually makes a hell of a lot more sense for the character's motivations. Oh, and Fortinbras pulls off his helmet to reveal... Hamlet. Hellooooo extra level of headfuck.
Pre-play, they take you through the back, which has been made up to look like an institution - walls, bits of luggage, labels, schedules, rooms designated 'treatment', gymnasium, tiny blood smears, bored guards... They've done the back wall so it's glass doors and you can see into the entrance/reception and incomers like R&G get searched as they come in. Any conversations about Fortinbras approaching are the guards commenting on news on the tv in the reception. Same for Hamlet listening in on Claudius' discussions with R&G through the radio when they're in the reception area. Combine with warning sirens, emergency lighting, and announcements over the tannoy. Oh, and the stage, they lift up a giant portion to reveal a sandpit underneath in Act 3 for the gravedigger scene. then they fall into it during the fencing - which doesn't really make sense until they push all the dead bodies into it, cover it with a tarpaulin... which enables a quick change so they can come in tac gear as Fortinbras' men.
Young Vic 18th Feb, Michael Sheen as Hamlet, Vinette Robinson as Ophelia, other people I will, er, add when I can find a cast list....
All round, v good performances. bit brain breaking as it's set in a mental asylum, and it's made very clear that Hamlet is one of the most nuts from the start. Which sadly makes me grit my teeth even more - I want to give the character a good kicking all through Acts 1 and 2 at the best of times (act 3, when he's stopped acting like such a little self-entitled shit, just about bearable). This? Stick him in a woodchipper, especially during the play when he just goes too far.
Nice notes: Polonius being paranoid as hell in a genial way and constantly recording everything and reassuring people he's recording everything. Ophelia playing a lap harp to communicate when she's really gone off her rocker. Gertrude and Claudius being in much smarter clothing and seeming much more together than everyone else to create the illusion of court. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being... basically visiting social workers or Salvation Army people, from what I could tell of their dress. The ghost is Hamlet having a fit. Which actually makes a hell of a lot more sense for the character's motivations. Oh, and Fortinbras pulls off his helmet to reveal... Hamlet. Hellooooo extra level of headfuck.
Pre-play, they take you through the back, which has been made up to look like an institution - walls, bits of luggage, labels, schedules, rooms designated 'treatment', gymnasium, tiny blood smears, bored guards... They've done the back wall so it's glass doors and you can see into the entrance/reception and incomers like R&G get searched as they come in. Any conversations about Fortinbras approaching are the guards commenting on news on the tv in the reception. Same for Hamlet listening in on Claudius' discussions with R&G through the radio when they're in the reception area. Combine with warning sirens, emergency lighting, and announcements over the tannoy. Oh, and the stage, they lift up a giant portion to reveal a sandpit underneath in Act 3 for the gravedigger scene. then they fall into it during the fencing - which doesn't really make sense until they push all the dead bodies into it, cover it with a tarpaulin... which enables a quick change so they can come in tac gear as Fortinbras' men.
