Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare
Sydney Opera House
"…The theatre should always be mindful of the needs of its time. Let us takes, as an example, the old play of Hamlet. I believe that in view of the bloody and gloomy times in which I am writing this, in view of the criminal ruling classes and general despair of reason …"
Bertolt Brecht
"There are many subjects in Hamlet. There is politics, force opposed to morality; there is discussion of the divergence between theory and practice, of the ultimate purpose of life; there is tragedy of love, as well as family drama; political, eschatological and metaphysical problems are considered. There is everything you want, including deep psychological analysis, a bloody story, a duel, and general slaughter. One can select at will. But one must know what one selects, and why."
Jan Kott
There's a great photo in the programme that accompanies Bell Shakespeare's new production of Hamlet. Matthew Whittet and Tim Richards (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) are standing side by side in one of those 'behind the scenes' shots with Richards wearing a t-shirt that says 'bring back the biff'.
And in so many ways, I wish that this production of Hamlet had brought back the 'biff', maybe even a bit of va-va-voom or even some good old fashioned oomph. Because by the time we got to Act III and young Hamlet utters those infamous words;
Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business, as the day
Would quake to look on.
... I just didn't believe a word of it.
The production certainly has a lot of things going for it; a great set design (Fiona Crombie) with multiple elements including a wonderful circular staircase, a fantastic lighting design (Nick Schlieper) that shoots across the stage, following the action from castle look-out to bed chamber to grave.
There's even a very interesting (if not a bit sparse) sound design by Sarah Blasko and Stefan Gregory who give it that indie contemporary edge.
But it's the central action around the portrayal of Hamlet (Brendan Cowell), that fails to lift this production off the ground. In the first act, Hamlet is a tempestuous child, strumping around which almost appeared as though he was acting as though he is distraught about his father's death and his mother's terribly quick marriage. In the second act he is not much more than rather annoyed and moody.
The reaction from the other characters is suitably impatient and the stakes just don't feel high enough.
"Situation is the mechanism that grabs the attention of the audience and keeps them on the edge of their seats. Blasetti used a more colourful expression when he said; 'It is the nail sticking out of the stool which keeps the spectator's bottom in the right place.'
"In Hamlet there are at least fifteen situations, one after the other... it continues in a satanic crescendo: corpses, sudden shifts in direction and the situation right up to the final slaughter, which represents the point of conciliation of all the coordinates and of all the twists and turns of the situations."
Dario Fo
The volatility of Hamlet's emotions, whether real or not, are just not given the full gamut by this portrayal of the unhappy prince by director Marion Potts. The situations are often passive and the textual crescendos are weak to the point that I was pleading for something more. Cowell even has an unusual habit of upward inflections at the end of every sentence making everything seem like a query.
This production may have certainly worked in a smaller and more intimate environment where the subtleties in action and reaction could have given a greater weight to the tragedy. In the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House it was sadly lost.
By the end it felt more like a really good looking conversation with Hamlet that makes Ophelia's suicide a bit of an over-reaction.
Nevertheless, the cuts to the text are extremely clear (aside from the sudden appearance of Fortinbras at the very end who practically surprises himself with his entrance) and the narrative of the action is faultless making it a totally suitable production for the HSC syllabus.
Director: Marion Potts Set design: Fiona Crombie Lighting design: Nick Schlieper Composer: Sarah Blasko Sound design: Stefan Gregory Fight director: Nigel Poulton Assistant director: Nic Dorward Vocal Coach: Carmen Lysiak.
Cast: Sarah Blasko, Laura Brent, Brendan Cowell, Russell Kiefel, Joe Manning, Heather Mitchell, Colin Moody, Barry Otto, Paul Reichstein, Tim Richards, Chris Ryan, Darren Weller, Matthew Whittet.
Bell Shakespeare
Sydney Opera House
"…The theatre should always be mindful of the needs of its time. Let us takes, as an example, the old play of Hamlet. I believe that in view of the bloody and gloomy times in which I am writing this, in view of the criminal ruling classes and general despair of reason …"
Bertolt Brecht
"There are many subjects in Hamlet. There is politics, force opposed to morality; there is discussion of the divergence between theory and practice, of the ultimate purpose of life; there is tragedy of love, as well as family drama; political, eschatological and metaphysical problems are considered. There is everything you want, including deep psychological analysis, a bloody story, a duel, and general slaughter. One can select at will. But one must know what one selects, and why."
Jan Kott
There's a great photo in the programme that accompanies Bell Shakespeare's new production of Hamlet. Matthew Whittet and Tim Richards (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) are standing side by side in one of those 'behind the scenes' shots with Richards wearing a t-shirt that says 'bring back the biff'.
And in so many ways, I wish that this production of Hamlet had brought back the 'biff', maybe even a bit of va-va-voom or even some good old fashioned oomph. Because by the time we got to Act III and young Hamlet utters those infamous words;
Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business, as the day
Would quake to look on.
... I just didn't believe a word of it.
The production certainly has a lot of things going for it; a great set design (Fiona Crombie) with multiple elements including a wonderful circular staircase, a fantastic lighting design (Nick Schlieper) that shoots across the stage, following the action from castle look-out to bed chamber to grave.
There's even a very interesting (if not a bit sparse) sound design by Sarah Blasko and Stefan Gregory who give it that indie contemporary edge.
But it's the central action around the portrayal of Hamlet (Brendan Cowell), that fails to lift this production off the ground. In the first act, Hamlet is a tempestuous child, strumping around which almost appeared as though he was acting as though he is distraught about his father's death and his mother's terribly quick marriage. In the second act he is not much more than rather annoyed and moody.
The reaction from the other characters is suitably impatient and the stakes just don't feel high enough.
"Situation is the mechanism that grabs the attention of the audience and keeps them on the edge of their seats. Blasetti used a more colourful expression when he said; 'It is the nail sticking out of the stool which keeps the spectator's bottom in the right place.'
"In Hamlet there are at least fifteen situations, one after the other... it continues in a satanic crescendo: corpses, sudden shifts in direction and the situation right up to the final slaughter, which represents the point of conciliation of all the coordinates and of all the twists and turns of the situations."
Dario Fo
The volatility of Hamlet's emotions, whether real or not, are just not given the full gamut by this portrayal of the unhappy prince by director Marion Potts. The situations are often passive and the textual crescendos are weak to the point that I was pleading for something more. Cowell even has an unusual habit of upward inflections at the end of every sentence making everything seem like a query.
This production may have certainly worked in a smaller and more intimate environment where the subtleties in action and reaction could have given a greater weight to the tragedy. In the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House it was sadly lost.
By the end it felt more like a really good looking conversation with Hamlet that makes Ophelia's suicide a bit of an over-reaction.
Nevertheless, the cuts to the text are extremely clear (aside from the sudden appearance of Fortinbras at the very end who practically surprises himself with his entrance) and the narrative of the action is faultless making it a totally suitable production for the HSC syllabus.
Director: Marion Potts Set design: Fiona Crombie Lighting design: Nick Schlieper Composer: Sarah Blasko Sound design: Stefan Gregory Fight director: Nigel Poulton Assistant director: Nic Dorward Vocal Coach: Carmen Lysiak.
Cast: Sarah Blasko, Laura Brent, Brendan Cowell, Russell Kiefel, Joe Manning, Heather Mitchell, Colin Moody, Barry Otto, Paul Reichstein, Tim Richards, Chris Ryan, Darren Weller, Matthew Whittet.
8 comments:
"UNUSUAL habit of upward inflections at the end of every sentence"??? What country have you been living in SAJ? They are the bane of every young actor in Australia.
More Sutherland Shire than Cunnamulla I suppose SAJ?
And far far away from Elsinore...
couldn't agree with you more. this production unfortunately missed the point
We are in the minority Anon. See SMH, Daily Telegraph, the Sun Herald and a couple of other online reviews here and here.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23848939-5013577,00.html
Here's the link to the Oz review by J McCallum. I thought it was interesting in its ambivilence.
Thought I'd throw it in the mix. It is also the 2nd review that says something along the lines of 'it's not a bad performance now but it will get better' which was something I hadn't seen before and thought was pretty weird.
Less writhing around and more intelligent 'reading'. I found it painful to watch and frankly, pretentious. I couldn't feel empathy bfor this Hamlet, and I'm pretty sure I should have had a more complex reaction. MT
Not sure about pretentious - certainly Cowell was a bit uneven (which might be why some reviewers thought he would improve along the way - if he can nail this bit and that bit, then maybe he will get the hang of the whole thing...) but the rest of the cast was spot on. Colin Moody was the first believable Claudius I've ever seen - you could see why Gertrude, under threat of invasion from the Norwegians, would have felt safer married to him. Great set, excellent building of classic tragic dread in the final act. I think you are alone in lacking empathy for Cowell's Hamlet - even with the unevenness, I think we saw him grow up, and we were with him all the way.
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