Hamlet

[mordav]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 2:33am

Just got back from this tonight. What a shambles. One of the few times I have gone to the theatre and legitimately felt like I could ask for my money back. Sarsgaard did his best, I suppose. But the blame for this mess lies clearly at the feet of director Austin Pendleton, who made some truly bizarre choices. Maybe he should stick with Chekhov. What the hell he was doing with Ophelia after act 4 will remaining an enduring mystery to me. And overall it wasn't very well located in time and not clear whether it was a more modern take or simply full of anachronisms. And the Yorick speech could best be described as "interesting". The problem of mediocrity for everyone else in this production was compounded by the superlative performance by Stephen Spinella as Polonious. I was actually hoping Hamlet had stabbed someone else behind the curtain so we could see more of him. In Pendleton world we did see him drifting around on the periphery after his death, but it was all a bit confusing.
I don't want to pick out individual actors who clearly struggled with the language, but there were a few.
In short, this was truly awful. And at the end, applause was understandably muted. No standing ovation, no returning to stage for another bow.

Updated On: 4/1/15 at 02:33 AM

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 2:28pm

Thank you, Mordav.  I was planning on purchasing tickets to this over the weekend, but now will hold off.  Maybe it'll tighten up?  Too bad really, I was looking forward to this.  I haven't seen a good Hamlet in years and I thought Sarsgaard would be fantastic.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 2:33pm

Where is this being performed?

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 2:37pm

Classic Stage Company

[dtlajim]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 5:45pm

I found this production to be unusual but quite compelling. The director has an atypical take on the story which I found interesting and supported by the uncut text. The director presents us with an unheroic and quite mad, but intelligent Hamlet. Sarsgaard is excellent, but Spinella really steals the show. How the language is delivered as chopped up common speech, not grand poetry. A very contemprary take. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/1/15 at 7:50pm

The text was uncut? Are you sure? What was the runtime? The full-length play is rarely performed. They didn't even perform the full version in Shakespeare's time. 

[dtlajim]

Posted: 4/2/15 at 1:18am

Hamlet ran 3 1/2 hours with one 15 minute intermission and no time wasted in between scenes with elaborate scene changes.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/2/15 at 6:14am

A "complete" HAMLET would easily run over 5 hours. No way that this is using the complete text (a misnomer in and of itself) and only running slightly more than 3 hours.

[dtlajim]

Posted: 4/2/15 at 10:46am

Well, that's what they said at the box office...