The Grand Hamlet-Off 2011 - Results

So, I’m going to kick off my theatre round up this year with the results of the Grand Hamlet-Off, as I've not written the rest of them yet.


Alas, for financial and logistical reasons I didn’t quite make the double figures I’d been hoping for. Out of the twenty or so renditions of Hamlet (in one form or another) that you could have seen this year around the country, I only managed nine. Here's the final run down:

SEEN: National Theatre,  RSC Young Person's Shakespeare, Hamlet 1603 at the White Bear Theatre, The Globe, Northern Broadsides at the Rose Kingston, Hamlet the Musical at the Richmond Theatre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Chichester Festival Theatre, Sovereign Arts at St. Paul's Church and Young Vic.

MISSED: Icarus Theatre Collective, Factory Hamlet, Hamlet Clown Prince, Kupenga Kwa Hamlet, Berkof Presents: The Man Who Was Hamlet, Stamford Shakespeare, Shakespeare Live at Lakham House, Re-Act Theatre Company's Scratch Hamlet, Wittenberg at the Gate Theatre, Ostermeier's Hamlet at the Barbican, Northern Ballet and probably others.

Which, I think, is an awful lot of different Hamlet's you could see during one year.

Though I managed to see less than 50%, I shall crack on and give out some prizes anyhow. As I’m judging small touring productions against the fringe against massive subsidised theatres, I’ve decided it would be unfair to judge some of the more technical elements of the productions but instead will focus on my favourite performances for each of the major characters:

Favourite Players:
I’m going for the cast of Hamlet 1603 at the White Bear Theatre for this one. Often I find the players scene at odds with the tone of the rest of the production, but here it fitted the setting and mood perfectly. Managing to be in equal spades moving, powerful and with some genuinely funny clowning in the background. Plus the use of Reaching for the Moon and the pay-off with Ophelia in her mad scenes, has really stuck with me.
Runner up: The Globe, for some excellent bait and switching.

Favourite Ghost:
The Young Vic stole this one at the last minute. It’s the first time I’ve seen the same actor playing Hamlet and the Ghost and I think Michael Sheen did a superb job. The blackout, the confusion and the moment where he fell backwards out of his father’s coat worked exceptionally well. Plus I loved how well it fitted the setting and how it altered our perception of what was real and not real.
Runner up: Sovereign Arts at St. Paul’s Church. This young cast added a real power and horror to the ghost, with Hamlet feeling his dead father’s torment. Plus I loved the touch, whether intentional or not, of seeing dead Polonius’ lips moving as he joined in with the words of the second ghost scene.

Favourite Horatio:
I think I’m still 50/50 on female to male Horatios, though I’ve also added a female Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Osric and Fortinbras to my collection. In the end, I’ve gone for Katie Hayes from Hamlet 1603 as my favourite. It doesn’t hurt that the earlier text gives Horatio a much more active role to play (she plots with Gertrude and everything), but it was really Hayes controlled, warm and sensual performance that won me over.
Runner up: Simone Saunders for the RSC’s Young Person’s Shakespeare, an enjoyably sassy Horatio.

Favourite Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:
Despite all my words about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being separate characters, here I am judging them together, but it is the way that Ferdinand Kingsley and Prassana Puwanarajah highlighted the differences that made them the stand out winners for me. Not only did they have different characteristics, but they had markedly different relationships with Hamlet and reactions to the events surrounding them. Exactly how it should be done.
Runner up: If it hadn’t felt a bit like cheating, Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker, might have snuck in and won this award for their excellent performances in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Favourite Polonius:
This is one of many instances where the unusual world building of the Young Vic’s Hamlet and an excellent performance by Michael Gould, made this easily the most moving and memorable Polonius I saw this year. Plus I loved the doubling of Polonius/Ophelia with the Priest/Osric - allowing them to be present at Laertes death.
Runner up: I’m going to go for Hamlet 1603’s charming and softly spoken Corambis (just to confuse everything the 1603 text also has different names).

Favourite Laertes:
Laertes is one of my favourite characters but also one that I’ve more often than not seen played terribly. Thankfully Matthew Spencer in Hamlet 1603 more than made up for it, with a superbly emotional performance. Definitely someone I’m watching for in the future.
Runner up: Ah, I think if this had been a full production, Dyfan Dwyfor’s emotional clarity and genuine relationship with Ophelia in the YPS Hamlet would have swayed this one for me.


Favourite Ophelia:
Comparatively to my friends I’ve managed to see six excellent Ophelia’s this year, but I have to agree that the Young Vic’s Vinette Robinson was exceptional. A real revelatory mad performance - deeply and genuinely touching.
Runner up: A completely different approach to Robinson, but I loved Debbie Korley’s highly stylised and heartbreaking Ophelia in the YPS Hamlet.


Favourite Claudius:
Hmmm... this was a difficult choice as nobody has really blown me away as Claudius this year. But I did like the interesting way James Clyde played him in the Young Vic’s production, a not-quite innocent slowly dragged into the world of his patients mind.
Runner up: Fine Time Fontayne stood out as an amiable Claudius with an edge of real danger in Northern Broadside’s production.

Favourite Gertrude:
Sally Dexter was another Young Vic performer that stood out to me for a non-traditional and slightly off-kilter performance. Plus surprisingly, given that I didn’t think they were actually related, I found Hamlet and her relationship exceedingly moving. The moment when they danced has haunted me ever since.
Runner up: Claire Higgins at the National Theatre made a highly memorable Gertrude for her drunkenness, her ability to see the ghost and a much more effective than normal Ophelia’s death speech.

Favourite Hamlet:
Ah, the biggie. There was only really one possible answer to this for me was Michael Sheen. Not only because I was impressed by the intelligence of his performance, but also because he is the first Hamlet to have affected me emotionally. The ‘I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth’ speech left me with tears running down my face. From start to finish he took me with him on the complex journey of the play and I was gripped throughout.
Runner up: Rory Kinnear at the National Theatre, gave a highly nuanced and highly intelligent performance as Hamlet. Memorable to me for seeming the most sane when he appeared mad and the most mad when he appeared sane.
Special mention: If anyone cares to give Jack Hawkins (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) a proper shot at the Dane, I am more than happy to reassess his position on the list. Though I want to see Ed Bennett and Emma Pallant’s takes first, thanks.

And finally.....

Favourite Production:
I suspect at this point, you can already guess that the Young Vic is my favourite Hamlet of the year. As well as an outstanding performance by Sheen, I was really fascinated by the world they created. Claudius as lead psychiatrist, represented a king figure, whilst his patients created both the familial groupings and the scenarios they were trapped in. It made each performance something new and fascinating and the entire production absolutely ached with broken emotion. Plus between the setting and the pre-show ‘journey’ I was left unable to completely grasp what was real and what was imagined - leaving me as unsettled as Hamlet. I was gripped from start to finish and the challenging emotions it brought up are still shuddering inside me. So, whilst I can see why others disliked it, it completely and utterly worked for me. 
Runner up: For all that it’s seen as a lesser text, I really did fall in love with Hamlet 1603 - for it’s pace, it’s setting, it’s wonderful players scene and an array of excellent female performances.
Special mention: Mostly as they have undeservedly been unmentioned so far, I want to give a shout-out to the endlessly entertaining Hamlet the Musical.


Hope this has been vaguely entertaining, hoping to get the rest of my theatre round-up ready for the 1st January. We shall see.