In light of the corona virus spelling closures of venues throughout the world, the Globe is releasing free recorded versions of its brilliant Shakespeare plays for the next few weeks, all on its Youtube channel. There will be six films shown on a fortnightly rotation, including Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s dream. Currently, Hamlet (shown in 2018) is available for another full week online.
This brilliant adaptation of Hamlet plays with a number of interesting critical interpretations and tweaks to the play. At a glance, the most obvious is the gender bending of a number of key characters, namely Hamlet, Horatio, Ophelia and Laertes. This allows the play to explore the importance of gender roles within the play, as well as providing an interesting visual effect with Ophelia a full head above Hamlet and Laertes! In particular, Hamlet is a frequent crier in this production, an interesting portrayal considering the admonition of ‘unmanly grief’ by Claudius within the text and the fact that a female, Michelle Terrys, is playing Hamlet. Another effect of the gender swap is seen through a slightly different portrayal of Ophelia from our most longstanding idea of her as an ethereal, submissive character wracked by love madness. Instead, the Ophelia of this production has some more strength and energy, even able to banter with Laertes as he lectures her as part of the enhanced comedy aspect of the play.
This comedy aspect has clearly been highlighted by the producer, with a number of parts and characters being spun to be played for laughs. Guildenstern is played by Nadia Nadarajah, a deaf female actor, and Claudius’s excessive gesticulating is a frequent source of laughter from the audience. Polonius, who is easily interpreted as a bumbling fool from the text, has been portrayed as a largely comedic character, who relies on notes and papers while speaking. Even in the final scene riddled with death’s, Claudius’s worthless sigh of “tis a poisoned cup” is comedic.
Part of these interesting interpretations must be a result of the unconventional path that the directors and actors chose while putting together and rehearsing the play. The designer, the composer, the choreographer, the actors and the directors all came together as a team to make decisions from a scratch, unlike the usual process where production decisions are made far in advance. They also held open rehearsals, where members of the public could wander in to see them perform. Part of this ‘breaking the fourth wall’ is seen in the actual play, where Hamlet holds the hand of a member of the audience while reciting his most famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy.
These various interpretations all show Hamlet in a new light in this brilliant adaptation, and there should be a huge thank you for the Globe for showing it for free, as well as the five upcoming productions. For those studying Hamlet or those who are Shakespeare fans, the Globe has given a brilliant opportunity to enjoy his major works for free in the safety of our homes.
Here is a link directly to the production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPqu598m68&
