Theatre Review: Hamlet

Trigger warning: mention of mental illness and death.

Hamlet…a twisting tale of madness, murder and morality. The story takes place after the titular character’s father dies but not, as the old king will come to inform him through a series of hauntings, naturally. Faced with the knowledge that the new king (his uncle) murdered his father, Hamlet has to decide if and how he will take revenge, the consequences of which will have a cumulative effect beyond the limits of the royal family.

We enter the theatre to a rich soundscape and a stage cast in the bare skeleton of a boat. Before the action even starts we are quickly – but gently – immersed into the sombre emotional politics of the tragedy with the static creaking of the wave assaulted ship also evoking songs of mourning, appropriate for the opening scene of a funeral and hinting at the bloodshed to come.

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Rupert Goold’s Hamlet is Shakespeare at its most thrilling

Typically set inland, this production sees a Danish castle instead transformed into a vessel. The sea, with its evocations of salt and mist, add to the ghostly setting with the aid of clever lighting. The change of setting was unobtrusive, indeed it only maximised the spirit of Shakespeare’s script which already contains many allusions to the blue unknown. The sea is mostly unexplored and has historically been one of man’s greatest fears, providing a thought-provoking backdrop to Hamlet’s own internalised anxieties and stormy countenance.

The staging of the show is impeccable; the RSC never fails to push the boundaries of stagecraft, nor gravity in this case. Not an inch of the set is wasted on or below stage with the boat itself becoming a dynamic prop that moves up and down to adapt to the needs of the actors and plot points. As the play goes on, we see the bow of the ship submerged further into the water surrounding the stage, signifying that we are reaching a climax that someone (or rather, someones) will not come back from.

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Thallon’s Hamlet is infectious in his charm and the actor is undoubtedly one to watch

One caveat here is that I feel the temporal setting of the show didn’t quite work out, with the ship sharing the same date that the Titanic began sinking: 14 April 1912. Whilst I appreciate the intentions of the director in adding new levels of dramatic irony to the script by alluding to the familiar setting of the Titanic, this additional context remained largely offscreen and only served to confuse the narrative. As a generic shipwreck however, the new location of the show is an ingenious twist.

Time is a large focus of this production. Screens lit in red and accompanied by a shrieking beeping pop up regularly to act as a digital clock. Presented with two different versions of grief (stoic and quick versus emotional and slow), the play asks us whether there is a right amount of time to grieve. Hamlet’s own dilemma is prolonged by dual fears: does he dishonour his father by not acting quickly enough in taking justice, or is he betraying his morals by acting swiftly and without control?

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The staging of the show is impeccable; the RSC never fails to push the boundaries of stagecraft

All of the actors embrace a great range of physicality in order to validate the authenticity of their characters’ feelings. In Polonius’ case (played by Elliot Levey), this dextrousness of movement adds necessary comedic beats to heavy dialogue.

Luke Thallon’s Hamlet is also of particular note. I was astonished to discover that this was his first Shakespeare given the confidence with which he embodies the daunting and physically demanding role. He is fully convincing in the degradation of Hamlet’s mental state, to the point that the audience cannot know for certain where his madness remains a pretence that serves to maintain his innocence, or a true representation of his mind. Thallon’s Hamlet is infectious in his charm and the actor is undoubtedly one to watch.

Whilst some of the more abstract scenes, such as utilising dance to demonstrate Ophelia’s grief, do at times feel jarring, overall Rupert Goold’s Hamlet is Shakespeare at its most thrilling. It gives us not a murder mystery but a moral one, where the biggest question is not just whether Hamlet will fall into temptation but whether he is even wrong to do so. It puts a spotlight on our own moral imperatives and demands the audience to put itself in the shoes of the Prince himself. After all, what is more universal than grief?