It snowed so much during Peter Evans production of HAMLET that I thought that I was back watching the blizzard conditions in the recent Winter Olympics from Bejing. I looked under my seat in case I had brought one of those winter jackets the commentators wore at the Olympics. Anyhow it sure made the show atmospheric.
Evans sets the production in the 1960’s. Not sure why?! Well I guess there are heaps of people who are nostalgic for the sixties.
I won’t go into the details of the plot, except to say that a lot of misadventures takes place, and a number of the characters become statistics in the end! Shakespeare had a penchant for killing off characters in his tragedies! Similar as to how in his comedies, couples get hitched.
The distinguishing aspect of Evans’ production is I liked the way that he made it feel like there was a question mark over the whole murder stuff. Maybe Hamlet really was off his rocker, after all he did say a ghost had been talking to him, And King Claudius did come across as a nice guy and he seemed to be sympathetic to Hamlet’s north by north west rumblings. Claudius is a nice guy until he goes troppo during Hamlet’s play and then it is beyond reasonable doubt that he is a foul murderer.
Harriet Gordon-Anderson was excellent as Hamlet and well deserved the standing ovation that she received.Her was a memorable performance. When she delivers the iconic ‘to be or not to be speech’ she sits perched upstage with Benjamin Cisterne’s spotlight shining on her.
Cisterne’s lighting design was one of the highlights of the production.
Rose Riley shines in another of the play’s great dramatic role, that of the forlorn, crestfallen Ophelia.
Veteran thespian Robert Menzies impressed as the sage Polonius. Every scene he was in, was richer for it.
Lucy Bell played a sensitive Gertrude who breaks apart more and more as her son ”rips’ into her.
Ray Chong Nee impressed as King Claudius. His Claudius came across as charming and oddly sensitive.
James Evans‘ impressed in three very evocative performances as the Ghost, the Player King and the Gravedigger.
Jack Crumlin impressed as the volatile, firebrand Laertes who was quick to fly off the handle in a similar way as the fierce Tybalt in the Bard’s romantic tragedy, ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
Jacob Warner played Hamlet’s best friend, the warm heared, ever affable Horatio.
Jeremi Campese played Rosencrantz and Marcellus and Jane Malady played Guildenstern and Barnardo.
Elini Cassimatis played the Player Queen, Second Gravedigger and Osric.
Anne Tregloan’s staging design worked well though I couldn’t work out why as part of her design she used something that I could best describe as looking like a huge mobile clothes rack. As Pauline Hanson would say, please explain. All I could figure out was that the rack was very useful in one scene.
The fencing bout at the climax was well choreographed by Nigel Poulton and convincingly performed by Harriet Gordon-Anderson and Jack Crumlin. God, Harriet and Jack are very brave, I wouldn’t go anywhere near those swords for fear of being sliced open!
Recommended, Bell Shakespeare’s production of HAMLET opened at the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House on Wednesday March 9 and plays until Saturday 14 May 2022.
http://www.bellshakespeare.com.au
Featured image : Harriet Gordon-Anderson as Hamlet and Rose Riley as Ophelia in Bell Shakespeare’s production of ‘Hamlet’ at the Sydney Opera House. Pic Brett Boardman