It was a bit of a Shakespeare week for us, that week. From Ivan Shakespeare at the Canal Cafe on the Sunday…
…to one of the Bard’s most famous plays at The National on the Saturday.
Janie isn’t naturally drawn to Shakespeare, but she had never seen Hamlet before and Simon Russell Beale in the eponymous role was a big draw.
I had seen Hamlet before…and at the National before. I had a rare sighting of Daniel Day Lewis in the role before he famously withdrew early in the run to be replaced by Ian Charleson.
Anyway, The National obviously felt the urge to have another go at Hamlet less than 12 years later, with Simon Russell Beale, Peter McEnery, Sara Kestleman and Denis Quilley to name but a few.
Janie remembers being impressed by the acting, but still not really relating to or engaging with Shakespeare. I remember feeling that I had probably previously seen the best production of Hamlet I was ever going to see, despite thinking that this was pretty darned good; especially Simon Russell Beale’s performance.
Very good indeed.
That’s what I wrote in my log.
But you don’t want to listen to us. Here are some reviews. First up – Nicholas de Jongh, who also liked Simon Russell Beale more than he liked the production
Hamlet de Jongh Standard 6 Sept 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Similarly, our friend Michael Billington applauds SRB’s performance and John Caird’s directing of it, but feels that the production strips out the big picture political aspects of the play:
Hamlet Billington Guardian 6 Sept 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Charles Spencer, similarly, applauds the performances but finds the production too stripped back for his taste:
Hamlet Spencer Telegraph 7 Sept 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Janie noted in her diary that the play ran for 3 hours and fifteen minutes, so I’ll guess that she was grateful for John Caird’s cuts of the political elements – goodness knows how long the play would have taken in John Caird’s hands if we’d also had the Fortinbras sub-plot to deal with.
Still, to summarise the critics – they warmed to the production almost exclusively because of Simon Russell Beale’s quality. I’m surprised that no-one gave their review the headline, “Saved By the Beale”. They missed a trick there.