Hamlet @ The Globe

Director Dominic Dromgoole presents us with a travelling production of Hamlet. This raw and traditional representation of the play offers us some excellent performances. Simon Armstrong’s Claudius is vicious, cunning and powerful, and despite his, at times, loose anger, he holds an incredible sense of authority which makes it impossible to avoid him. He even offers some humour, Rosencrantz and Googlestrub?

John Bett’s Polonius balances his character’s vices brilliantly and maintains the audience’s sympathy through laughter. Both Horatio and Laertes (Ian Midlane and Alex Warren) are a joy to watch, managing to break away from the usual stereotypes their characters hold, and showing a satirical Horatio and an unusually honest and respectful Laertes. What this play lacks, however, is Hamlet and Ophelia. Young Joshua McGuire offers us an energetic, innocent and, more often than not, a rushed Hamlet. Though he manages to bear the weight of mad Hamlet respectably, McGuire offers no depth to the character and even the most famous and symbolic lines in the play ‘To be or not to be’ come out as merely “words, words, words”. The same applies to Jade Anouka’s Ophelia. Tonight, her otherwise heart-breaking soliloquy is overshadowed by a pigeon trapped in the ceiling of the Globe. Both would be much better suited to the roles of Romeo and Juliet as their youth is honed by their rushed and at times shallow acting.

There are some slight modifications to the script, supposedly in an attempt to make it more accessible. Yet, the only difference between “the lady doth protest too much me thinks” and “The lady protests too much” is the lack of sentiment the ‘modern’ version holds. Some of the best parts of the play are also spared to the audience tonight, notably, the heavily shortened speech by Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern where he urges Guildenstern to play upon a pipe.

The last few scenes of the play seem more comical than tragic. The struggles and deaths seem overdone and the, at times, inadequate acting of McGuire leaves us more sympathetic towards Horatio than to the eponymous protagonist. Sadly, the exceptional performances of the majority of the cast seem overshadowed by McGuire’s Romeo who happened to be in the wrong play tonight.

Mirela Ivanova