Confusing and Unfocussed Hamlet
“If it be now, ’tis not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now:
if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.
Hamlet
This is the first Shakespearean production of Hamlet at the National since Nicholas Hytner directed Rory Kinnear in 2010 in Shakespeare’s most famous play and the first for Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham. The National has however been streaming Hamlets produced elsewhere like the Almeida’s with Andrew Scott and the Barbican’s with Benedick Cumberbatch.
Robert Hastie also directed Chariots of Fire at Sheffield last year and Standing at the Sky’s Edge at the National and Operation Mincemeat. The play starts very well in darkened mode on the battlements at Elsinore. There has been no desire to move this Hamlet to Hiram Abeysekera’s origins in Sri Lanka as they did when Paapa Essiedu played Hamlet for the RSC, setting it in Ghana. The Ghost (Ryan Ellsworth) has a very clear deep voice and what is unexpected is Horatio (Tessa Wong)’s mocking disbelief in what Francisco (Seb Slade) and Barnardo (Noel White) are saying about the spectre. The scene on the battlements is genuinely eerie.
We switch to the brightly lit dining hall with candles on the tables where Gertrude (Ayesha Dharker) and Claudius (Alistair Petrie) are holding court. She’s wearing evening dress and Claudius is in full military uniform with a chestful of medals. The backdrop is Danish forest with candles in the distance and a Danish battle with the red and white flag. Hamlet (Hiram Abeysekera) in black is sitting at his mother’s table but moves to another as Claudius is speaking.
Hiram Abeysekera made his name in a wonderful performance in Life of Pi. Hamlet moves to the front of the stage and the actors behind are frozen for his first soliloquy, “Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt..” He crouches down to talk to us informally and he can walk round the motionless Gertrude and Claudius as he talks about them. His delivery of the soliloquies is rapid and he is full of body movement which brings about humour in unexpected places.
We see Laertes (Tom Glenister), Polonius (Geoffrey Streatfeild) and Ophelia (Francesca Mills) as a family grouping. I found Polonius less boring than usual with the injection of some humour. Francesca Mills is very impressive in her delivery of her lines and expression, but seeing her from the top of the Circle, she is so diminutive she looks like a child. Despite the needs of inclusivity, I have an issue in finding sexual chemistry between Ophelia and Hamlet. David Lan once said in a seminar that what we remember from theatre is the visual, the pictures and my picture memory of this Hamlet is this cute Ophelia with her angel wings running around the stage.
Ayesha Dharker as Gertrude has a neutral presence and is underplayed. When Polonius is concealed behind the arras, Hamlet shoots a gun into them and is genuinely distressed when he discovers his victim. Polonius falls on to a travel trunk on wheels and those of us who know the play realise that Hamlet will not be strong enough to carry him off otherwise. The audience laughed when Hamlet said, “Forgive me!” to Polonius’s body.
The ghost’s appearance in the bedroom is seen not by Gertrude and not by the audience, but only by Hamlet. Gertrude, although declaring Hamlet mad, does seem to heed Hamlet’s words to avoid Claudius and momentarily pulls away from him. I found Alistair Petrie’s Claudius quieter than usual. Rosencrantz (Hari Mackinnon) and Guildenstern (Joe Bolland) look as if they have just come from Eton, Rosencrantz in a blazer and Guildenstern in a rugby shirt.
Ophelia hands out the flowers and dies tragically. The graveyard scene has about five skulls dug out of the grave but the gravedigger manages to identify Yoric’s. There is a final duelling scene thankfully not using guns but with foils although there is little sense of drama with the poisoned chalice and Gertrude’s drinking it. I still remember Trevor Nunn’s Hamlet with Ben Whishaw where Gertrude had alcohol stored in her bedroom cabinet and so Claudius’s, “ Gertrude, do not drink” sealed the significance of her alcoholism.
I feel very sad that I could not like Hiram Abeysekera’s performance more. I hope that Francesca Mills will get more chances to show her acting skill. In conclusion, I do not think I shall have happy memories of this production of Hamlet and will not be back to see it three times or even twice.
Production Notes
Hamlet
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Robert Hastie
Cast
Starring:
Phil Cheadle
Alistair Petrie
Ayesha Dharker
Francesca Mills
Geoffrey Streatfeild
Hiran Abeysekera
Liz Jadav
Mary Higgins
Noel White
Ryan Ellsworth
Siobhán Redmond
Joe Bolland
Kiren Kebaili-Dwyer
Sophia Papadopoulos
Seb Slade
Hari MacKinnon
Tom Glenister
Tessa Wong
Creatives
Director: Robert Hastie
Designer: Ben Stones
Composer: Richard Taylor
Lighting Designer: Jessica Hung Han Yun
Sound Designer: Alexandra Faye Braithwaite
Movement: Ira Mandela Siobhan
Fight Director: Kate Waters
Information
Running Time: Two hours 50 minutes including an interval
Booking to 22nd November 2025
Theatre:
Lyttelton Theatre
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Lyttelton Theatre
on 2nd October 2025
