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mitchy at 10:00pm on 26/12/2009 under hamlet 2009
mitchy at 10:00pm on 26/12/2009 under hamlet 2009I am totally going to need Tennant-as-Hamlet icons. For those that don't know, the BBC did a filmed a version of the play on location, starring the entire recent London cast. Tennant and Patrick Stewart, oh my! Hamlet isn't one of my favourites but I know it pretty well. I wasn't at all sure Tennant would do a good Hamlet but by crikey I've misjudged the bloke, he can seriously act.
I thought I'd have it on as background distraction mostly and I had it on mute for a while but when I realised I was reading the subtitles more than I actually watching the episode of Mythbusters on my compy, I gave up doing anything else and just watched. It was a modern dress production and I'm not sure where it was filmed but the locations were glorious. It's always dicey doing modern dress versions of Shakespeare but I've seen similar versions of Hamlet before and it does lend itself well to the updating. Patrick Stewart was superb, of course, and there was an excellent supporting cast although I had not heard of the actors before.
My main concern with Tennant is that he was a shouty 10th Doctor and Hamlet is a shouty role but he really rocked all the scenes and some of the soliliqueys were just amazing. His "to be or not be" was amongst the best I've heard. I'm not saying he nailed everything, the odd shouty bit came through but overall he was outstanding. I do hope this is released as a DVD, it deserves to be.
Next time Tennant is on stage in anything, 'm going to see him. He's completely sold me ;)
I thought I'd have it on as background distraction mostly and I had it on mute for a while but when I realised I was reading the subtitles more than I actually watching the episode of Mythbusters on my compy, I gave up doing anything else and just watched. It was a modern dress production and I'm not sure where it was filmed but the locations were glorious. It's always dicey doing modern dress versions of Shakespeare but I've seen similar versions of Hamlet before and it does lend itself well to the updating. Patrick Stewart was superb, of course, and there was an excellent supporting cast although I had not heard of the actors before.
My main concern with Tennant is that he was a shouty 10th Doctor and Hamlet is a shouty role but he really rocked all the scenes and some of the soliliqueys were just amazing. His "to be or not be" was amongst the best I've heard. I'm not saying he nailed everything, the odd shouty bit came through but overall he was outstanding. I do hope this is released as a DVD, it deserves to be.
Next time Tennant is on stage in anything, 'm going to see him. He's completely sold me ;)
cheerful
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*faints*
Oh, My. I really wanted to see it in the theatre but I didn't get round to it and then it was gone. How did you find the filmed version?
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Things where you can see him not being shouty:
He wasn't shouty in ...
Casanova?
Or as the sweet gentle driving instructor he played in a drama last(?) year, written by Jessica Hynes (Jessica is 'Daisy' in Spaced and was Joan in Family of Blood)
or the physicist and Quaker, Eddington in 'Einstein and Eddington' (ANDY SERKIS as Einstein - how did you miss that, Ms Fellow-Geek?)
Or as the male half of the romance in the 'Chatterley Affair' (it was a TV drama about the trial of the prosecution of the book)
but then I predicted that he would be Dr Who before they leaked that he was ... (I also said they ought to cast Chris Ecclestone too - sadly, I didn't predict Matt Smith or I'd be setting up in business as a fortune teller - but I did see him in Ruby in the Smoke and thought he was very good ... unfortunately I'd not seen Skins) and I just couldn't get the tickets for Hamlet although another Dr Who fan I know said that she went - I just wasn't feeling well yesterday ...so didn't see it. I'll buy the DVD though
Oddly - I've *never* seen a 'properly' period version of Shakespeare - apart from the history plays - even the Kenneth Branagh version of Much Ado About Nothing is a sort of fantasy version of vaguely historical clothing - not 'real' period dress of any kind (and the music is equally historically schizoid ...) I've seen Shakespeare set in sort of 1930s fictional fascist state version of A Merchant of Venice and the Samuel West as Hamlet that I saw at the RSC was also ... sort of modern dress - although so thematically stylised that it didn't look so much modern as 'not-period'. even the history plays are
anachronistic - because that was quite the style then - look at religious paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries - all the soldiers are wearing 16th/17th century armour, not Roman armour....
But I know what you mean - although the Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet is the only version where I've ever not wanted to slap the hero and heroine, I certainly giggled when the gun had 'Longsword' on it as a brand name ... but that's taking 'modern' to ridiculous levels ... most 'modern dress' versions I've seen haven't been going for major verisimilitude
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Tex suggested, and I quite agree, that Hamlet would have been even better if they'd got Helen Mirren as Gertrude. Now that would have been stunning.
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And hee, SIR Patrick Stewart for the win! :)