Hello, readers! Those of you who follow me on Facebook may remember me having a fan-girl meltdown over Benedict Cumberpatch as Hamlet and promising a more intelligent rant soon. Sorry it took so long to write this post, but here it is.
This term I've opted to take an Acting Shakespeare class to fulfill my art requirement, and also because I want to look at Shakespeare's plays from an actor's perspective. Are there any differences between reading Shakespeare as a literature student or as an actor? The short answer is yes, there are, but that's a blog post for another occasion.
My purpose in mentioning this class is simply to explain why I dropped $20 on a movie ticket for a school assignment. I was already a Benedict Cumberpatch fan, and I chose this option over a free play at a local theater. However, I'm not sure I would have spent the money if I wasn't in need of inspiration for a graded paper. God definitely works in mysterious ways, and this is one of those times.
Benedict Cumberpatch is now one of my favorite actors of all time. I've scene him in a few on-screen roles that I liked, namely: Khan in Star Trek, Smaug in The Hobbit, and the well known title character of Sherlock. I've seen him play the cold-hearted villain, an animated dragon, and a "high functioning sociopath" hero. On stage, he was all these things and more: madman, hero, bloodthirsty killer, loyal friend, tortured son, regretful lover, and prince of Denmark. Before seeing this play I never really liked Hamlet, but Benedict breathed life into that character and made him a living breathing person. Cumberpatch didn't play Hamlet. He WAS Hamlet! I wasn't even in the same room as him, and the energy in his role was tangible in the theater. There were times when I actually teared up, and that almost never happens at movies. When Hamlet spoke, I didn't see Smaug or Khan or Sherlock. He ricocheted between wrathful tears and manic laughter with ease, all while making it look perfectly natural. I was watching Hamlet.
For the first time, I actually understood Hamlet as a character. Others have a right to their own opinion in this instance. But as far as I'm concerned Benedict Cumberpatch is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, and he always will be.
For the sake of fairness though, no production's success rests solely on the shoulders of one man. Every single one of the actors involved was brilliant. I wasn't too sure if I liked Ciaran Hinds as Claudius at first, but by the end of the first couple scenes I was sold. As much as I loved Cumberpatch, one of the most moving scenes in the play was the scene where Claudius finally tells the audience that he wants Hamlet dead. I actually had to clutch my purse to keep from shaking. And Karl Johnson (Twister Turrill from Lark Rise to Candleford) was a fantastic choice to play the ghost. Every time I've seen him act before, it was always in a comic relief role, and he dons that persona in Hamlet too as the grave digger. But he totally nailed the spooky ghost act. It was genuinely creepy. Ophelia was heartbreaking, Gertrude was frustrating, and Horatio was the kind of best friend everybody wishes they could have. Like I said, everyone was brilliant.
And the stage crew deserves a round of applause as well, because the set was incredible. It had to have taken a lot of painstaking labor to put it together, take it down after the show ended, and keep it in working order every day in-between. During the intermission, a crew of people actually dumped piles of dirt all over the stage floor! Dirt! Or at least it was a substance that looked like dirt and must have been equally frustrating to clean. That is serious dedication, and they deserve some recognition for it.
I could go on for hours about everything I loved in this production, but I'll stop after one last thought. I've heard it said often that stage acting is the true litmus test for acting talent, and Shakespeare is the ultimate test for stage actors. Now I understand why. This play has changed the way I look at Shakespeare forever. The $20 spent was a steal, and I absolutely intend to invest in more National Theater productions.
This American girl is now a Shakespeare fan-girl.
No comments:
Post a Comment