Unmissable Hamlet at Sea
“Drown the stage with tears.”
Hamlet
Prince Hamlet has journeyed back from university in Wittenburg at his mother’s request. The funeral of King Hamlet takes place at sea, with a volley of shots and funereal music, and we are already asking how they will do the graveyard scene? Should the play Hamlet be about the starring actor or the director’s vision?
Rupert Goold has set Hamlet in 1912, the year the Titanic sank, and people who haven’t seen it are already calling it “the Titanic one”. Es Devlin’s set is the sloping deck of a ship with dark, tumultuous waters seen behind and in the foreground a tank of moving sea water between the stage and the front row of the audience. Hatches open and dark figures of sailors appear part of the functioning of the ship. It is remarkably busy and innovative. Is the Titanic a metaphor for the sinking of the Danish Royal Family in this play?
Luke Thallon was predicted for greatness several years ago by my friend Paul Taylor who wrote about theatre for the Independent. I was impressed by Luke Thallon as the writer fan in Present Laughter, 2019, as Fritz, the handsome dragoon in Leopoldstadt in 2020, as a guide in After Life in 2021, as the young American with Nazi leanings in Camp Siegfried, also in 2021, as Roman Abramovich in Patriots in 2023 and as the composer musician Wiktor in Cold War in 2023.
And now Luke Thallon gets to play Shakespeare’s most important part in Shakespeare’s best play, Hamlet in Shakespeare’s birthplace. His delivery is reticent, sometimes hesitant as if he is trying to find the right words, to express himself exactly, but this didn’t interfere for me but enhanced belief in his performance.
He is a thoughtful prince, intelligent and moving as he tries to solve the problem as to how to deal with his father’s murder. The soliloquies are superb as to how their meaning is explored. You hang on every word.
Rupert Goold has set the play in a 24hour time frame with a red digital clock showing the countdown which explains why Hamlet is wearing the shirt, bloodied from carrying Polonius (Elliot Levey)’s body in the final scene. Normally he would have been to England and back by sea. I think the “on board” setting detracts from Ophelia (Nia Towle)’s drowning by the breaking of a willow tree branch over a brook.
Jared Harris’s Claudius is not strong enough and as Gertrude, Nancy Carroll is not given enough significance. As a mother who loves her son, she is quick to declare him “mad” and side with Claudius after the death of Polonius. Polonius is benevolent and less tedious with his advice to Laertes (Lewis Shepherd) and comic during the Player King’s entrance. Hamlet is repeatedly held with his head in a bucket of water in an attempted drowning by Claudius.
Rosencrantz (Chase Brown) and Guldenstern (Tadeo Martinez) speak in American accents and Hamlet mimics them. Anton Lesser is a star with his beautiful rendering of the Player King speeches, the Ghost and the first grave attendant. As Claudius attempts to pray and escapes Hamlet killing him, this scene is lit red.
If you have low attention span you may find the crew opening of the trap doors distracting and it does add to the frenetic quality of the play. The sloping and swaying deck is a challenge for the actors especially during the sword fight which is brilliantly executed.
I was there to see a new and memorable Hamlet in Luke Thallon and this is his first Shakespeare role. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
Hamlet
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Rupert Goold
Cast
Starring:
Anton Lesser
Chase Brown
David Mara
Elliot Levey
James Sobol Kelly
Jared Harris
Jessica Temple
Luke Thallon
Miranda Colchester
Nancy Carroll
Nia Towle
Kel Matsena
Jack Myers
Joe Usher
Shailan Gohil
Lewis Shepherd
Tadeo Martinez
Evan McCabe
Sophie McIntosh
Ed Mitchell
Creatives
Director : Rupert Goold
Set Designer: Es Devlin
Costume designer: Evie Gurney
Composer: Adam Cork
Lighting Designer: Jack Knowles
Sound Designer: Adam Cork
Musical director: Lindsey Miller
Fight director: Kev McCurdy
Movement: Hannes Llangollen
Information
Running Time: Two hours 30 minutes including an interval
Booking to 29th March 2025
Theatre:
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford Upon Avon
CV37 6BB
Phone: 01789 331111
Website: www.rsc.org.uk
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge at the
at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
on 20th February 2025