Hamlet

I wanted to like this production and was intrigued by the roles of Hamlet and Polonius being played by females, although in the former case I could not really tell whether s/he was supposed to be a lesbian or a male in the staged play. Polonius was absolutely changed into the mother of Ophelia, with the father disappeared in the way that the mother is nonexistent in the original play. (I assume that she must have died during childbirth or something along those lines, since no one ever utters a word about her).

Some of the acting struck me as quite good (esp. Claudius), but I felt that Hamlet was portrayed as someone more drunk and out of control than plagued by existential and moral concerns. The performance included way too much screeching and screaming for me to watch comfortably. There are other ways to express sorrow and dismay and even anger but those were avoided, leaving only a sort of monolithic emotivistic outburst conveyed through voice volume and histrionic facial contortions.

I first studied Hamlet about twenty years ago when at college and ever since then I have made a point of seeing as many different versions as possible. This version deserves some serious praise. This is a modern take on the play with the original language and is a stripped down and incredibly actor-led performance. Maxine Peake is simply sublime. Hamlet which is usually acknowledged as the toughest challenge an actor will ever undertake is a huge, three hour plus, demanding role with language that is both familiar and unfamiliar to us today. The supporting cast were also of high quality particularly the King & Queen and the comedic Polonia (Changed to a female lead). Maxine descends into madness with the character and spits and scorns her words, uses intriguing gestures and quite frankly, is one of the best actors working in today's media. Genuinely impressive and whilst stripped down, really goes to the very heart of the play. Great version. How anyone remembers 3 hours of text to perform live and with such passion is stunningly impressive.

Just a quickie synopsis, Hamlet's father, was the king of Denmark, now dead. Hamlet's uncle quickly marries Hamlet's mother. Hamlet's father's ghost returns to say someone dispatched him on purpose (murder most foul). While Hamlet seeks revenge, he is also distraught with indecision. How he acts with friends and relatives to conduct his plans of revenge is what the play is about.

For more insight into Hamlet before watching this presentation you will want to read "Hamlet: Poem Unlimited" by Harold Bloom. Some surprises there.

Everyone wants to improve the presentation of Hamlet. Some want it to be shorter and cut out Rosenkranz and Guildenstern. Some curtail sections during wartime. Others just can not help but make it up to date and still use the original Iambic pentameter. Will there be no end to this corruption?

This presentation uses a woman Maxine Peake as Hamlet (Shelley Long's character plays Hamlet in the (1987) film "Outrageous Fortune.") Wait there is more Polonius, father of Ophelia, goes to Sweden and gets a gender-affirming procedure to Polonia.

This is a minimalist stage production, with props from the present day, maintaining original Shakespearian Iambic pentameter.

If you want to watch a gender change that works, then watch "The Tempest" (2010) with Helen Mirren as Prospera. Filmed at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, USA.

It's not so uncommon to see 'tour de force' performances on screen because cinema and TV affords the actor the physical space and respite to tear the arse out of a performance. It's a one off and retakes allow them to experiment and finesse the part and to build in nuances.

But of course the stage has many 'tour de force's' to reference, Olivier springs to mind in the Shakespearian silo, but they are fewer in number and elitist in observation.

Nevertheless, in the digital cinema world, to that august canon must be added Maxine Peake's Hamlet.

Let's ignore the gender issue here. It's a red herring. The fact is that Peake is, by anyone's measure, slight.

And yet the sheer energy she exudes performance after performance is ant like in its ability to punch above its physical weight.

Her skill is to mesmerisingly tic and twitch her way through a descent into moral madness. It's very compelling indeed.

And yet her slightness brings with it a vulnerability that really draws you in. Captured on the big screen it only serves to emphasise the greatness of this performance at the Royal Exchange Theatre during last year's Manchester International Festival.

If you get a chance to see one of these 'live' theatre screening jump at the opportunity. You will thank me.

The production is solid, the corps quite capable and there are some touches - The Mousetrap section- which are quite good changes. The Polonia in place of Polonious is a trick and not particularly interesting.

Judgement rests here on Hamlet/Peake. Her performance has merit but it has many defects. The shouting, the shrillness and the pitch is set very high and almost old fashioned in its quaint gestures. She does not command through physical movement which is rather too similar to Tom Cruise when he tries to be strong, and instead conveys a lower than average statured man mimicking power. Overall Peake's Hamlet is like a very young angry gang kid from a housing project.

There is, as with the Benedict Cumberbatch Hamlet, which received so much attention, a sense that these productions are used to raise status and advance careers above anything else. This is not a great Hamlet; it is quite interesting, that is all.