Hamlet (Old Vic)
This is a production that has been much talked about. Not only is it directed by Trevor Nunn but he’s created a buzz by casting two unknowns as Hamlet and Ophelia to emphasise the youthfulness of the protagonists.
Nunn’s attempt to reclaim Hamlet for the more youthful can only be applauded. We’re used to seeing actors in their 30s attempt the role (after all, the text states that Hamlet is 30) but by casting someone so young, we see the play afresh. Hamlet instantly becomes more sympathetic for a start. Whereas before we might have thought ‘what’s that bloke moping about for at his age’, we now have more regard for a Hamlet who has suffered terrible loss at such a young age, trying to cope with emotional upheaval when he’s still learning how to be an adult.
It’s said that there’s a Hamlet for each generation and in Ben Whishaw we have the first grunge Hamlet. We first encounter him dressed in black (of course), wearing a beanie hat and slumped in a chair – the epitome of adolescent rebellion.
Whishaw, pale, fashionably thin and gangly is an undoubted star in the making. He conveys all the awkwardness of youth, but perhaps he’s a bit too much the disturbed adolescent rather than the noble prince – Fortinbras must have acute insight if he can perceive a great ruler here. Although he acquits himself well there are a couple of occasions when he gabbles speeches, the words piling up on each other until they are indistinguishable – maybe it was first night nerves.
Whishaw is eclipsed by Samantha Whittaker’s performance, an excellent West End debut. This schoolgirl Ophelia is desperately keen to be loved by Hamlet. We first see her as a moonstruck teen, fawning over Hamlet and next encounter her in her bedroom listening to loud music to the annoyance of her brother. She captures perfectly the cusp between childhood and womanhood and her decline and suicide is, consequently, even more pitiable.
There are some other excellent performances. Tom Mannion’s Claudius is a smooth, designer-suit-clad, semi-gangster. His first thought after Polonius’s murder is to clear up the evidence before getting his bodyguards to administer a beating to Hamlet. In a logical piece of doubling, Mannion also plays the Ghost. There’s that rarest of rare beasts, a strong Laertes, courtesy of Rory Kinnear and there’s an excellent Polonius from Nicholas Jones, exasperating and comical in turns.
Nunn’s experiment is a qualified success; the emphasis on youth has added a new dimension to our appreciation of the play and while Whishaw is not quite the finished article, it’s an encouraging start. I’d love to see Nunn take the same approach to Romeo and Juliet, a play where all the parts seem to be played by actors who are about 20 years too old, that would definitely be worth seeing.
– Maxwell Cooter
