The ship’s the thing in which we will tilt the conscience of the king!
Hamlet, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon Avon until 29 March 2025.
Review by Hilary Hopker.
How do you stage a well-loved play that’s over 400 years old and make it feel different? Put it on a ship sailing through uneasy seas.
The last time I saw Hamlet at the RSC over 20 years ago there was no set at all, the only staging was lighting. This time was the complete opposite. The stage for the play is the tilting deck of the good ship Elsinore, which dominates, sets the mood and becomes a character itself.
The challenge with any Shakespeare play is to make it connect with a modern audience. As moody black-clad Hamlet roams the deck, mouthing off at his mother’s wedding to his uncle, the connection is instant. I’m reminded of my own teenage son.
Hamlet, played brilliantly by Luke Thallon who is making his RSC debut, is twisted up over his father’s death, his mother’s ‘oer hasty marriage’ and generally feeling awkward at a family event. My heart went out to him, here is a young scholar in need of modern-day therapy.
The battlements scene where Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father translates brilliantly to the deck of the ship. You even fear that Hamlet might be lured into the water by the apparition.
Interestingly, for a play that’s about procrastination and finding endless reasons to put things off, this version of Hamlet is set in compressed time. A clock flashes throughout, reminding us only minutes have passed between one scene and the next.
The combination of rapid events on board a ship where everyone is trapped in a small space creates an oppressive atmosphere. Which is entirely the point, ‘Something is rotten in the heart of Denmark’ and the staging makes time and space itself seem out of joint.
Beyond Luke, the twin stars of the play are Anon Lesser who plays the ghost of old Hamlet and Elliot Levey as the meddling Polonius. Elliot’s Polonius is a gossip. He wants to know what’s happening everywhere, who said what to whom and when he can run back to the King to tell him all that’s he’s heard. He brings the much-needed levity to the plot, as Shakespeare intended.
Like many others, I fell in love with Hamlet aged 17 when I studied the play for my A-levels, so it was a joy to hear the well-worn lines on stage. I worried the gravedigger’s scene wouldn’t work on the ship and alas poor Yorick might be cut. However, it’s there and it just about works.
As the second half lurches from one disaster to another, the tilting stage takes over. By the end the boat claims many a murdered soul, leaving only Hamlet and Horatio teetering on the prow. The effect is stunning and leaves the audience applauding the ship as much as the actors aboard it.
For tickets and further information: https://www.rsc.org.uk/hamlet
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