| Performance Details | Dates: 15th - 19th November 2005 Tickets: Β£8.50 - Β£18 with concessions at Β£3.50 Box Office: 01904 623568. |
Hamlet is, generally speaking, famous for being long, rich in content and tragic in the main theme. Yet the audience last night appeared to have been kept interested through out the play.ΜύΜύ Director Stephen Unwin lets the audience come to 'hear the play'; apart from the Elizabethan costume, and the rather stylish lighting design, there are hardly ever any other props or effects to be seen on stage. The cast is small too, with actors occasionally playing two or several different roles, which was sometimes the case during Shakespeare's day too.Μύ The bare stage and the way it's lit in fact echoes what Hamlet says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: 'Denmark's a prison.' It is fairly colourless most of the time and once or twice almost too dark to see the actors' facial expressions.Μύ The troubled Prince Hamlet is well acted by Ed Stoppard. Throughout the play, we see a sulky prince, capricious at times, but pitiable as well. Listening to his monologues is enjoyable because they're smoothly spoken out, and that famous 'To be or not to be' soliloquy could almost serve as the reason why people come to see the play--to hear it recited again. Although what is said might be complex for some to figure out at once, it is still clear that the prince, when speaking to himself, is upset and indecisive, sick at heart and facing a dilemma, almost obsessively.Μύ We feel sad for him, because he knows so much, but can do so little. The other actors are competent too in supporting the main role. Among them Michael Cronin is the most impressive, playing the nagging Polonius and the witty gravedigger. The scenes where these two characters interact with Hamlet are some of the most memorable and funniest bits of this production. The action pace is fast and smooth, but perhaps the ending is a little too sharp: some might feel when Hamlet says 'the rest is silence' it is not yet well developed for that crucial moment. The same with Ophelia's mad singing--it's a little too short that the audience are not given enough time to really sympathise with the poor lady. Wanyu Lin | 
