![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hamlet and Refugees
Oct. 8th, 2015 11:02 pmFirst of all I have to admit that I tried to read Hamlet twice and didn't succeed as a teenager. I gladly took the opportunity to see this play and finally read it. It's not that I've never liked classics, it's more that I probably was saturated as a teenager - we read lots of German classicals during school. For example I loved Kafka and Schiller, and hated Böll and Keller. Okay, I'll stop my rambling now and go on with the topic.
So, I just read the play in September in English and German to really get the knack of it and what everyone's talking about (tbh, 16th century English is still a bit above my skills). It worked well and didn't even have to glance at the programme. It also did help that I'd listened to Cabin Pressure in advance because I was quite used to BC's mumbling. Yes, sometimes Hamlet wasn't talking that loud, but I got most of it anyway.
And now we are in the middle of the performance. It took me only around 5-10 minutes to get over the 'OMG, I'm really seeing Benedict Cumberbatch just two meters away on a stage'-feeling (yes, the seats were in row two so we were really that close to the stage) and I only saw Hamlet: grieving, seeking revenge, playing mad, being torn, becoming guilty and getting really a bit mad in the process - it was great. As I can't compare the performace, I had to take it as it was and I loved especially the parts when he was mocking everyone else. Those were my favourite parts while reading the play too, and I think BC did a great job here. I assume the grieving parts are similiar, no matter who plays Denmark's prince, as bringing big feelings to live is what actors are trained for.
I loved the whole cast. Polonius (Jim Norton) was great and funny in his zeal, Claudius (Ciarán Hinds) was nasty and cunningly working on Hamlets downfall, Gertrude (Anastasia Hille) was so torn and desperately trying to keep her kingdom together, Horatio (Leo Bill) was a great friend and I loved this ridiculous backpack he had to wear at all times, Laertes (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) was intense and frightening at the end after he'd lost his sister and Ophelia (Siân Brooke) blew me away when she became mad over her father's death too. Oh and Karl Johnson's both roles (as old Hamlet's ghost and gravedigger) were a wonderful contradiction and gave another good impression what a good actor is capable of.
There was another thing that totally blew my mind. The set. OMG, the set was so fabulous! I only learned afterwards that its creator, Es Devlin, is one of the most famous stage designers ever. That woman did such an amazing job, but after having designed the Olympic closing ceremony in 2012 the Barbican stage was probably a piece of cake.
I'm seriously tempted to go and watch the play again in the cinema, not because of the story or BC, but because I want to look at that stage from different angles and to see it in the long shot. It's especially worth a closer look during the last two acts when the stage was put into the same rotten state Denmark was in (I'm still in love with that idea and how it started with a bang - see pic below).
Well, I tried to gaze as much around as possible in the quiter moments, but it was nearly impossible without missing on the acting - and that was a no go too. It would have been handy to have one pair of eyes more. ;p
( Read more... )
The three hours of the performance flew by so fast and some things I only realised in hindsight. The colour scheming of the costumes for example: the whole Danish court was dressed in white at the beginning - except Hamlet who wore a dark jumper and a charcoal jacket (and the servants whose uniforms blended in with the walls). In the end everyone wore black - except Hamlet who had put on a white swordsman jacket for his duel with Laertes. My favourite Hamlet costume of all: the Bowie t-shirt and the soldier's trousers - it was a wonderfully mad mixture and fitted the acting so well.
I felt a bit sad for everyone else in the cast after the performance had finished because they didn't get the same applause as BC - thought they earned it as much. I really enjoyed the whole performance and think Lyndsey Turner did a great job.
At the end BC gave the audiance his now famous help the refugees speech and everyone spent their coins (or more) on the matter while leaving the theatre. So, time to leave the performance and this exchange of niceties behind, because I'm getting political from here on.
It's a great thing to give such a speech, but it is a shame that it needs an actor to make up for remorseless politicians who just refuse to make it easier for the millions of people on the run. I'm very glad that I'm living in a country who is much more welcoming to refugees at the moment. Finally we've seemed to have learned something from our inglourious history. It would be even better for our economy to stop earning money by selling arms, but I realise that's not going to happen anytime soon. And yes, I'm aware that not everyone is welcoming here either. Yet, I hope the majority of my fellow countrymen and countrywomen keep their hearts open and refugees welcome! AMEN and good night.
So, I just read the play in September in English and German to really get the knack of it and what everyone's talking about (tbh, 16th century English is still a bit above my skills). It worked well and didn't even have to glance at the programme. It also did help that I'd listened to Cabin Pressure in advance because I was quite used to BC's mumbling. Yes, sometimes Hamlet wasn't talking that loud, but I got most of it anyway.
And now we are in the middle of the performance. It took me only around 5-10 minutes to get over the 'OMG, I'm really seeing Benedict Cumberbatch just two meters away on a stage'-feeling (yes, the seats were in row two so we were really that close to the stage) and I only saw Hamlet: grieving, seeking revenge, playing mad, being torn, becoming guilty and getting really a bit mad in the process - it was great. As I can't compare the performace, I had to take it as it was and I loved especially the parts when he was mocking everyone else. Those were my favourite parts while reading the play too, and I think BC did a great job here. I assume the grieving parts are similiar, no matter who plays Denmark's prince, as bringing big feelings to live is what actors are trained for.
I loved the whole cast. Polonius (Jim Norton) was great and funny in his zeal, Claudius (Ciarán Hinds) was nasty and cunningly working on Hamlets downfall, Gertrude (Anastasia Hille) was so torn and desperately trying to keep her kingdom together, Horatio (Leo Bill) was a great friend and I loved this ridiculous backpack he had to wear at all times, Laertes (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) was intense and frightening at the end after he'd lost his sister and Ophelia (Siân Brooke) blew me away when she became mad over her father's death too. Oh and Karl Johnson's both roles (as old Hamlet's ghost and gravedigger) were a wonderful contradiction and gave another good impression what a good actor is capable of.
There was another thing that totally blew my mind. The set. OMG, the set was so fabulous! I only learned afterwards that its creator, Es Devlin, is one of the most famous stage designers ever. That woman did such an amazing job, but after having designed the Olympic closing ceremony in 2012 the Barbican stage was probably a piece of cake.
I'm seriously tempted to go and watch the play again in the cinema, not because of the story or BC, but because I want to look at that stage from different angles and to see it in the long shot. It's especially worth a closer look during the last two acts when the stage was put into the same rotten state Denmark was in (I'm still in love with that idea and how it started with a bang - see pic below).
Well, I tried to gaze as much around as possible in the quiter moments, but it was nearly impossible without missing on the acting - and that was a no go too. It would have been handy to have one pair of eyes more. ;p
( Read more... )
The three hours of the performance flew by so fast and some things I only realised in hindsight. The colour scheming of the costumes for example: the whole Danish court was dressed in white at the beginning - except Hamlet who wore a dark jumper and a charcoal jacket (and the servants whose uniforms blended in with the walls). In the end everyone wore black - except Hamlet who had put on a white swordsman jacket for his duel with Laertes. My favourite Hamlet costume of all: the Bowie t-shirt and the soldier's trousers - it was a wonderfully mad mixture and fitted the acting so well.
I felt a bit sad for everyone else in the cast after the performance had finished because they didn't get the same applause as BC - thought they earned it as much. I really enjoyed the whole performance and think Lyndsey Turner did a great job.
At the end BC gave the audiance his now famous help the refugees speech and everyone spent their coins (or more) on the matter while leaving the theatre. So, time to leave the performance and this exchange of niceties behind, because I'm getting political from here on.
It's a great thing to give such a speech, but it is a shame that it needs an actor to make up for remorseless politicians who just refuse to make it easier for the millions of people on the run. I'm very glad that I'm living in a country who is much more welcoming to refugees at the moment. Finally we've seemed to have learned something from our inglourious history. It would be even better for our economy to stop earning money by selling arms, but I realise that's not going to happen anytime soon. And yes, I'm aware that not everyone is welcoming here either. Yet, I hope the majority of my fellow countrymen and countrywomen keep their hearts open and refugees welcome! AMEN and good night.
