“But give a quality director two top class actors playing two fascinating characters trying to understand the Danish enigma, and the result is amazing theatre.“
Con Nats
4 Poor Yoricks
In 1964, two acting legends, Sir John Gielgud and Richard Burton came together to produce Hamlet for a Broadway stage. Gielgud was recognised as one of the finest actors of his generation, and his Hamlet was considered the best until Larry (Sir Lawrence Olivier) starred in the film. Burton was known for his rebel rousing and marrying Elizabeth Taylor, who was the Taylor Swift of her day.
Putting these two egos and legends in a rehearsal room was sure to produce fireworks that will either ignite the play or burn down the stage. This production flirted with both and produced books by two of the actors about the experience. It also produced this excellent script by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and The Cursed child), directed by Sam Mendes which is the latest play delivered by the National Theatre Live series.
It appears Thorne had lots of source material to work with. Some actors also secretly recorded rehearsals including a final rehearsal between the Sir John and Burton. Many of the observations about actors being lost, Gielgud’s contradictory direction and the creative conflict are well sourced.
There is actual deep respect between the two characters: Burton (Johnny Flynn) hired Gielgud (Mark Gatiss) for the job (apparently after a bet he made with Peter O’ Toole, who produced a show with Sir Lawrence in London). Gielgud needed to resurrect a flailing career and a loss of confidence. And they both know how much a failure would impact their careers and legend.
I’m usually wary of plays about plays. They can be self-indulgent stories about self indulgent characters, known as actors and directors, spouting philosophy about human behaviour like Kellogs counsellors and pushing for changes that give them more stage time. And the sets can be physically confining. Rehearsal rooms are pretty boring places.
However, when the two characters are such polar opposites, striving for the same goal, but coming from totally different directions, it produces dramatic gold.
Mendes’ direction and Es Devlin’s staging are excellent as the stage switches between a bare rehearsal room, Gielgud’s bare office, meagre hotel room and Burton’s opulent one. I like that scenes from the original play are interspersed with rehearsal scenes to give all the cast some stage time and a break from the central tension.
The acting is masterful by the two leads. You cannot take your eyes off the two of them. Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud and Johnny Flynn as Burton nail their roles with a power hammer. Gatiss takes his physicality of Gielgud onto another level and totally embeds himself in the character.
Flynn has the roguish charm and intensity of Burton, who is a mass of contradictions. His delivery and timbre is classic Burton. (Even when he puts in a ‘bad’ rehearsal, it is subtle how bad it is and it takes a talented actor to know where to draw the line.)
The reconciliation scene where they finally resolve the way to play Hamlet is powerful but a little troubling, until I read an actor, Richard L Sterne, secretly recorded their final rehearsal, in hiding. I’m not sure what was overheard, as this is the sort of discussion – which focussed on their fathers – is very much the sort of discussion they would normally have, but it happens at the beginning of the process. But even Willie played with timelines and facts for dramatic impact. And the ending is one or two scenes too long as it seems to want to cement the resolution. However, it doesn’t feel overly long despite its almost Hamlet-like length.
The support cast are very good, but too often seem to focus on projection rather than characterisation and they suffer from being in the shadow of two great characters. Tuppence Middleton as Elisabeth Taylor is very good and has some of the best lines. Her breakfast with Gatiss is a great comic scene.
Hamlet, as a play, is about a character full of doubt and contradictions, much like Burton and Gielgud. He is the hardest character on paper to master, and this production features two such characters. But give a quality director two top class actors playing two fascinating characters trying to understand the Danish enigma, and the result is amazing theatre.
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