Words, Words!

[gwaevalarin]

I watched The Royal Shakespeare Company's verion of Hamlet yesterday. Yes, the one with David Tennant. Well, I started watching it yesterday but had to stop after about 2 hours because I was so tired and didn't want to miss a single scene. So I finished it today.

I am usually not a big fan of theatre on tv. I like going to the theatre once in while but on tv I prefer a more... realistic version, if you know what I mean. Nevertheless, I was really looking forward to seeing this version of Hamlet. I didn't manage to see it live on stage but I read so many positive reviews so I was really happy when I heard that they would bring all the actors back together and perform it again for a DVD release.

The film version is not exactly like the theatre version. You don't have two or three cameras pointed at a stage but proper sets even though they are still very spartanic and therefore carry this theatre feel. And you have some "effects" that you could not produce when just filming a performance on stage. So you get a slightly different version from their actual theatre performance but I believe that its still very close.

Well, not that we got those technical details out of the way, what can I say? The reviews didn't exagerate in the least. It is simply amazing. Every single actor in this play delivers such a flawless performance. But since, of course, I watched it mainly for David Tennant, I am going to concentrate on his Hamlet. He is the main character after all.

So, David Tennant's Hamlet. I feel like repeating what everyone else has said but it's just true: David nails every single line. He makes Shakespearean English sound like it is what people actually talk like. Even the "To be or not to be" part sounds like you haven't heard it a thousand times before. Believe it or not.

I have to say, I never really liked Hamlet. The character, not the play. To me he always seemed like this emo boy that tended to annoy me. In this version, Hamlet can still be emo. He's also still insane, probably manic-depressive and an arrogant, spoilt brat, if you ask me. But he's hightly entertaining in that with his poignant, mocking sarcasm and cynicism. I knew Shakespeare could be funny even in his tragic plays. I wasn't aware of how funny he really was. And still, in this version, I also really feel sorry for Hamlet.

And then there are the times when he speaks to the audience, i.e. directly looks at you from your tv screen. At first it makes you feel like you are his ally. The only one he reveals his real thoughts and plans to, because you surely see what's really going on just like him, don't you?
But later there's this madness in his eyes and, since he seems to be the only one who can see you - well, aside from Polonius who sometimes talks to you when he's being sarcastic - you start to wonder if you're just in his insane mind. And if you really want to be seen by him because it can make you feel quite uneasy when he looks at you like that.

When he comes back from England, Hamlet seems a lot calmer. Okay. there's the short episode at Orphelia's funeral but that's just grief. Interestingly, he stops talking to the audience at that point, too. Suddenly it almost seems like he is more calm and sane than anyone else around. Apart from Horatio, who is basically the only sane and likable person in the play and the only true friend Hamlet has. So when I say I never really liked Hamlet that doesn't mean that I think he deserves his fate. Or that it isn't heartbreakingly tragic. No one deserves a murder conspiracy by his stepfather and the brother of one's recently deceased girlfriend. And David can die so beautifully. What a bittersweet scene when he dies in Horatio's arms, even saving his friends life by taking the cup away from him and giving him a mission: Tell my story. And it has been told ever since... well, ever since Shakespeare made it up but let's not nit-pick.

Comments

[snuffkin.livejournal.com]

what I really liked about this version was the mixture of theatre and film. Like you said, sometimes Hamlet speaks to the audience and I just like that they converted that feeling by him turning to the camera and looking directly into it.

And I think it really speaks for this version that I was really psyched to see it and felt really entertained even though I had seen the Kenneth Branagh version only a week earlier.

[gwaevalarin.livejournal.com]

I liked the mixture, too, and that surprised me because I usually don't.
It always speaks for a film when you're highly entertained even though you know exactly what will happen next and how it ends. And this version felt so fresh and unique because you never knew how the familiar scenes would turn out and what you could discover in them.

[shaitanah.livejournal.com]

Yay, you watched it)))
I personally loved this fusion of theatre and cinema. It was stunning))
David does such a terrific job conveying Hamlet's madness! I was always pretty much indifferent to Hamlet (can't say I dislike him, but it's the same as with any of the Shakespearean characters for me: it was depends on who's acting the part), but David actually made me love him))

[gwaevalarin.livejournal.com]

I have. And I could just watch some scenes over and over again because I love them so much. *points at your icon*
David just exceeds himself. But the filming was shortly after he shot Doctor Who, wasn't it? Because I think I can see the Doctor shine through in one or two scenes.

[shaitanah.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, me too))) It's definitely one of my favourite movies now (if it may be considered a movie).
I don't really remember. I think it was aired on Boxing Day, but I don't know when it was shot. As far as I know EoT was shot way back in May. But yeah, the Doctor shows)) I laughed really hard when Hamlet talks back at someone (Polonius or the King, don't remember) exactly the same way the Doctor snapped at the Sycorax leader in The Christmas Invasion)))

[gwaevalarin.livejournal.com]

I don't exactly remember when Hamlet was shot. But either way, there obviously is quite some doctorness left in David. *g*