NT Live: Hamlet 2015
Finally got to see Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet in the movie theater and really enjoyed it!
Benedict shines as the lead role in this fantastically accessible (and abridged, even at 3 hours!) adaptation of Hamlet, screened by National Theatre Live to movie theatres around the world. The gloomy, atmospheric setting within a dark Victorian mansion is a gorgeous stage for this tale of grief, murder, and insanity.
Like with all his roles, Benedict throws his soul and body completely into the character and actually does so in a way that make Shakespeare’s timeless words seem fresh and relevant, lending poignant or funny new insights with a pause or a turn of phrase-silence often speaks louder than words here. His Hamlet goes on a character journey from depression to pretend madness to actual insanity and all the way back to having his reason returning when it’s too late and his and his uncle’s destructive actions have unraveled everyone’s lives.
I appreciated his takes on the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy, the “Alas, poor Yorick” scene, and especially the surprisingly moving scene where he says to Guildenstern, “Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?”
All the cast was great (like Ciarán Hinds as Claudius), but particular standouts to me were the female characters (Gertrude and Ophelia, played by Anastasia Hille and Siân Brooke), whose stories are given weight and solemnity as they are subjected to tragedy due to the men in their lives.
An amazing performance, and I’m so glad they broadcast it so I and others not in London could watch it!
More reviews of BC's films here.
Benedict shines as the lead role in this fantastically accessible (and abridged, even at 3 hours!) adaptation of Hamlet, screened by National Theatre Live to movie theatres around the world. The gloomy, atmospheric setting within a dark Victorian mansion is a gorgeous stage for this tale of grief, murder, and insanity.
Like with all his roles, Benedict throws his soul and body completely into the character and actually does so in a way that make Shakespeare’s timeless words seem fresh and relevant, lending poignant or funny new insights with a pause or a turn of phrase-silence often speaks louder than words here. His Hamlet goes on a character journey from depression to pretend madness to actual insanity and all the way back to having his reason returning when it’s too late and his and his uncle’s destructive actions have unraveled everyone’s lives.
I appreciated his takes on the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy, the “Alas, poor Yorick” scene, and especially the surprisingly moving scene where he says to Guildenstern, “Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?”
All the cast was great (like Ciarán Hinds as Claudius), but particular standouts to me were the female characters (Gertrude and Ophelia, played by Anastasia Hille and Siân Brooke), whose stories are given weight and solemnity as they are subjected to tragedy due to the men in their lives.
An amazing performance, and I’m so glad they broadcast it so I and others not in London could watch it!
More reviews of BC's films here.