Hamlet Review

            To be, or not to be? That is the question of the night. Should this production be in existence? To me the answer is questionable. Hamlet is not my favorite Shakespeare work and I was reminded of this while I watched the 3 and half hour production at the National Gallery. This Hamlet had a twist on the classic tale. Instead of setting being in ye old Denmark, it was instead an updated version set now, in the 21^st century. Guards instead of brandishing swords, were carrying machine guns. Instead of brightly colored stockings, there was only a sea of slate grey suits. While the concept was interesting, towards the end I was wishing there some ridiculous stockings to keep my attention. It was like watching a extended bad episode of West Wing.

            But perhaps I’m being too critical too fast. Let me slow down and talk about different aspects of the production and their level of success. First things first, the setting. I feel that by choosing to place Hamlet in a modern day the director was just asking for the choice to be analyzed. I admit, for about 70% of the play the modern translation worked well, sadly the 30% just didn’t seem to fit right and it was obvious. Scenes such as the gravedigger’s scene, which is one of the most memorable and important scenes, just feel so out of place and so forced into this modern world. Not to mention the final fight scene which just left a bad taste in my mouth. While they halfway decently explained by Hamlet would be wielding a sword, their interpretation of poison was just so badly outdated. People dying everywhere but at different rates with different reactions despite a shared poison. It was just too far fetched for my taste.

           But moving past the acting, it's time now to talk about the design. Once again, the design left me wishing it was just placed in a castle so I would at least have some nice tapestries to look at. Instead there were only stark white moving walls with a repeated crest. While the movement of the walls to create different spaces was clever, being seated on the side I often had a clear view into the backstage area where i was promptly distracted by the stage crew running back and forth. I didn't necessarily enjoy my surprise game of peekaboo. It was also disorienting to see an actor preparing to go on stage, stretching and being completely out of character and then seeing them snap back into character to enter stage, it kind of the took the magic out of the performance. 

           But alas I've been dragged back to the topic of actors who I thought were talented but left with a tough challenge. I feel as if certain moments of the play were acted beautifully, but other times they seemed to just loose steam, especially toward the end. Maybe it was the extremely long run time of the play, but like me they just seemed to get tired by the end. 

           Overall I think Hamlet had some winning ingredients but mixed together it was just not a winning recipe. Maybe my prejudice against Shakespeare played a part but I really felt as if Hamlet while appreciated by some was just not my cup of tea. I couldn't help pick apart everything that bothered me, and maybe it was because I had three and half hours to neigh say but Hamlet just didn't do it for me.