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Hamlet

One actor's rushed delivery of lines undermines the subtleties of Shakespeare's language in this production of Hamlet.
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Mia Landgren and Hugh Sexton. Image by Matt Deller. 

The Australian Shakespeare Company is well known for presenting productions of Shakespeare in the Park. In this new production of Hamlet, they take the bard into the studio space at The Athenaeum. The unadorned stage and minimal set, comprising only a long chaise lounge and raised platform, announces that space for the storytelling and language of the play is to take front and centre.

At the beginning of the play, Horatio remarks, ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. For the next three hours we are witness to how the rot sets in and the ways in which the central characters become corrupted and ultimately destroyed by their unchecked desires for power, revenge, love and status.

The play presents an intense character study of Prince Hamlet, the complex protagonist who we meet as a grief stricken son grappling with the death of his father and the marriage of his mother. Penny Larkins plays a finely wrought Gertrude, the archetypal wife grappling with motherhood; loyalty to her dead husband, the king; and the desire for status which plays out in her untimely marriage to the newly crowned king, Claudius. When Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father and learns of his murder at the hands of Claudius, Hamlet’s grief turns to the want of revenge and thus the seeds of his downfall and that of his entire family are sown.

Hamlet is a play rich in language and word play that must be carefully handled to bring out the subtleties and allusions that Shakespeare bestows on the characters. Too many times, Hugh Sexton as Hamlet rushed his lines to the point of incomprehensibility. This spoiled the end of Shakespeare’s phrasing and created a lag between comprehension and the experience of watching the action.

Unfortunately, this uncomfortable experience lasted throughout the play. There were notable exceptions such as the tensely erotic scene between Gertrude and Hamlet and the graveyard scene prior to Ophelia’s burial. But, as it was the company’s objective that the play should be focused solely on language and character study and ‘stripped bare to expose what lies beneath the shadows of their disturbed lives,’ the serious lapses of enunciation hurt the character of Hamlet and the overall enjoyment of the play.

Apart from this, the support cast was finely wrought and their performances measured and thoughtful. In particular, the young actress Mia Landgren showed a mature understanding of Ophelia’s struggle with her love and rejection and her ‘mad scene’ after the death of her father Polonius was affecting and poignant. 

This Hamlet has the potential to be terrific if Hugh Sexton can attend to his tendency to rush. 

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Hamlet

By William Shakespeare 
Directed by Glenn Elston
Cast: Hugh Sexton. Mark Dickinson, Grant Foulkes, Kevin Hopkins, Scott Jackson, Mia Landgren, Penny Larkins, Matthew O’Sullivan, Anthony Rive, Charlie Sturgeon, Doru Surcel, Michael Wahr

The Athenaeum, Collins St
www.shakespeareaustralia.com.au
10 – 28 June

Helen Begley
About the Author
Helen Begley is a Melbourne song writer and musician who likes to have a crack at writing just about anything; albums, poems, stories, blogs, scripts, reviews, emails, phone numbers. She also likes teaching; songwriting, music theory, guitar, and how to write and send emails and text messages to people stuck in the '70's. She’s very neighbourly and has just completed an album called “The Bride”, recorded at her next door neighbour’s house and designed by her neighbour three doors down. She’s seriously thinking of asking the neighbour across the road to make the video. Her favourite food is cake.