Hamlet (2024)

Director: Sean Mathias | 117 minutes | drama | Actors: Ian McKellen, Jonathan Hyde, Jenny Seagrove, Steven Berkoff, Francesca Annis, Frances Barber, Ben Allen, Alis Wyn Davies, Emmanuella Cole, Nick Howard-Brown, Llinos Daniel, Missy Malek, Ashley D Gayle, Lee Knight, Asif Khan , Olivia Fines, William Bozier, George Olney

Art and culture can transport you to another world, or deep into the thoughts of the creator or any characters. The latter is especially true in the ‘theatre performance’ of Shakespeare’s legendary play Hamlet. ‘Theatre performance’ is in quotation marks here; not because the play is not performed in the theatre – because it is – but because the scenes take place everywhere except on stage: in the auditorium, dressing room, technical cubicle, in between, in corridors, in an outdoor area… even in the toilet. This makes a number of things crystal clear. Firstly: strong dialogue and powerful performances always come to the fore, even if the setting is not ideal. And secondly: these kinds of timeless, compelling stories and beautiful acting deserve theatres. It would be a shame if these places were to disappear.

It is quite possible that the latter was one of the motivations for director Sean Mathias to make this interpretation. After all, the film was shot in 2021, at the beginning of the corona pandemic, when going to the theater was not an option. Mathias chose to portray Hamlet in the historic Theatre Royal Windsor, near London. It is the place where Ian McKellen, who plays the title role, first took on the role of Hamlet in 1971. And although the actor is now in his 80s, it sometimes seems as if he still feels like he is in that time; or is trying hard to resist the passing of time. He regularly hops briskly up a flight of stairs or works up a sweat on an exercise bike in his room. In his sword fight at the end of the film, he also comes across as anything but stiff.

Not that agility or youth are necessarily required for the role. Certainly not in this ‘age-blind’ version of Hamlet, in which McKellen is older than the actors who play his mother and stepfather, Jenny Seagrove and Jonathan Hyde respectively. You have to see through this at first, but thanks to the actors’ endearing performances, it soon becomes unnoticeable (or at least unobtrusive).

McKellen’s more mature age also has its advantages, his life experience reflected in his face, in which all the nuances and complicated emotions required for the role can be read perfectly. Even if you might lose track for a moment because of the woolly language of the famous Bard, you only have to look at his face, eyes or gestures to still be able to feel what is going on. You feel pain, sadness, jealousy, love, joy, regret, worries… everything that occupies the characters. Through what they say, but especially through how they say it.

Speaking of that language, it can be very poetic, of course, and touch you deeply because of it. But it also keeps you at a distance as a viewer. After all, you don’t have to say everything, but you can also show it. For example, it feels a bit unnecessary to hear Claudius say the text: ‘My soul is full of discord and dismay’ while he walks through a corridor with Gertrude. But in a theatre setting, where you can’t zoom in on faces, this is probably less illogical.

In that respect, this film recording is a bit of an odd one out. It uses both art forms – film and theatre – but does not use either optimally. It is an interesting hybrid form but also a bit neither fish nor fowl. As a viewer, you regularly remain too far away and too aware of the artificial form that a ‘real’ theatre deserves. But at other times you hang on the lips of the actors, such as Jenny Seagrove, Jonathan Hyde or Alis Wyn Davies (as Ophelia). Which shows that real quality cannot be limited. In any case, you empathise with the actors and can then completely forget that the setting is not optimal, such as when Hamlet confronts his mother (and murders Polonius) or delivers the famous ‘To be or not to be’ speech.

When the environment is very minimalistic and has hardly any decoration, it is even the case that the power of the interpretation becomes extra clear, because there is nothing to distract you. Or because then your own imagination is given free rein. A bit like in the experimental ‘Dogville’, in which Lars Van Trier let his dramatic story play out entirely on a stage, with houses indicated by only a few chalk lines on the floor. In such a case, you can only concentrate on the story, the themes, and the acting performances.

These and other elements play a role in assessing this special Hamlet film. It is all somewhat alienating, but we also see a story and acting performances that you should always have access to. With the painful realization that this is not
is self-evident and could also just stop if too much is cut in cultural budgets. This – how do we put it politely? – flawed production, is actually the best argument for the continued existence of theatres and the cultural sector.