“There is no weak link in the lead actors to be found“
“Evans rightly wants the audience to understand the story and the man, but he has also made everyone sympathetic. In the end, I was genuinely moved.My heart was constantly engaged by this production.”
“There is a lot to commend it. The play still has the power to kick us in the guts and elicits chills four hundred years after it was written.“
Veronica Hannon
4 /5 stars
Two years have passed since I heard his prose on the stage. How quickly one is reminded of its nuance and beauty and the Bard’s undeniable prowess as a storyteller.
I saw Bell Shakespeare’s first Hamlet in a circus tent with John Poulson in the title role. Thirty or so years later, an exceptionally fine Harriet Gordon-Anderson is our Danish prince. She plays the character as written, a young man and son to Gertrude and King Hamlet. It is a poised performance underpinned with aristocratic pride. There is a cool wit on display, with Gordon-Anderson finding the mind of Hamlet – the thinker and observer. It is also notable that she makes all those famous quotations seem like random thoughts.
Hamlet is an often-produced play. I am stating the obvious here, but it makes it difficult for the audience to pretend they don’t know what is coming. This production made me forget on several occasions.
Director Peter Evan’s take on the story of a rightful heir to the throne, devastated by his father’s death and commanded by a supernatural figure to avenge that same death, plays out against a winter scenescape. It is lovely to look at.
Anna Tregloan is the designer. She has done a terrific job evoking 1960s Denmark. There is a painted backdrop of snow-covered fir trees, the frosty whiteness then reaching to all corners of the playing area in the form of a shag pile carpet. Artificial snow also falls from above for much of the production. A Persian rug and mid-century furniture offer some warmth at the centre of the stage and suggest a living space in the royal family’s home. There is a metal frame I am in two minds about – it resembles a soccer goal post. I kept waiting for a round ball to fly through it. Everyone looks gorgeous, though, very swinging 60s. And the production is beautifully lit by Benjamin Cisterne with sound design by Max Lyandvert.
There is no weak link in the lead actors to be found. Lucy Bell makes for a sensual Gertrude, reborn in her new marriage. Ray Chong Lee brings a deft touch to the manipulative Claudius while Robert Menzies is having a ball as the “rash, intruding fool” Polonius. It is also a joy to hear Menzies use the language with such ease. However, the younger performers give every utterance the same weight and import. They will undoubtedly find a more innate sense of the poetry as the season continues.
Evans rightly wants the audience to understand the story and the man, but he has also made everyone sympathetic. In the end, I was genuinely moved. While nicely done, I did not think we needed the projected home movies of the Hamlets that appear intermittently on the back wall but each to his own.
My heart was constantly engaged by this production. There is a lot to commend it. The play still has the power to kick us in the guts and elicits chills four hundred years after it was written. Fortunately, more east coast audiences will see it. The Sydney run finishes in early April, and then the company tours to Melbourne and Canberra.
Veronica Hannon, Theatre Now
Photo: Brett Boardman
Event Details
