Shakespeare Magazine 9
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Hamlet <br />
Hamlet is always going to be a tricky play<br />
to stage. Everyone, from theatre buffs to<br />
armchair <strong>Shakespeare</strong> scholars, has an idea of<br />
how Hamlet ought to be. Add an actor like<br />
Benedict Cumberbatch and naysayers start<br />
baying for blood – claiming his star quality<br />
detracts from the role, or that people are<br />
seeing the play for the ‘wrong’ reasons.<br />
Unquestionably droves of people flocked<br />
to London’s Barbican and to local cinemas<br />
to see Hamlet, but whether initial interest<br />
was because of Cumberbatch or not seems<br />
irrelevant – the production delivers a fresh<br />
and modern Hamlet. And, thanks to<br />
National Theatre Live broadcasting the play<br />
Hamlet (Benedict<br />
Cumberbatch) and<br />
Laertes (Kobna<br />
Holdbrook-Smith)<br />
in the eye of the<br />
rehearsal storm.<br />
in cinemas, big productions like this are now<br />
becoming accessible to a much wider range<br />
of audiences. And the screenings of Hamlet<br />
were a stunning success, with box office<br />
takings running into the millions.<br />
Presented by Sonia Friedman Productions<br />
and directed by Lyndsey Turner, the play is<br />
immediately distinguished by Es Devlin’s<br />
beautiful set design. The stage is elegant and<br />
suitably cinematic in its detail, and the 360<br />
degree filming means that NT Live audiences<br />
can fully appreciate the subtleties of staging.<br />
The ornate banquet table, the piano<br />
played by Ophelia (Siân Brooke), and the<br />
richly decorated walls evoke early twentieth-<br />
<br />
SHAKESPEARE magazine 17
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