Review Roundup: HAMLET, Starring Ian McKellen

Having opened the production under extended social distancing restrictions, Theatre Royal Windsor's run of Hamlet has been extended by three weeks. The reimagined age, colour, and gender-blind production, directed by Sean Mathias, stars Ian McKellen.

Tickets start at just £25 with discounts available for NHS workers and students. The staging of Hamlet has been designed to offer the unique experience of being up-close and immersed in the performance via Shakespearean wooden bleacher seats on either side of the stage.

---

David Benedict, Variety: ...aside from the overarching casting decision, this production exhibits no unity in either dramatic intent or vision. Instead of matching characterizations to the action to build a thought-through interpretation, staging moments are presented to illustrate lines. Playing with the text for dramatic reasons is standard practice. But when the "O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt" soliloquy is broken up to bring on an exercise bike so McKellen can jump aboard and pedal furiously over the line about his mother's remarriage "O, most wicked speed..." your heart sinks. The bike is never seen again.

Paul Taylor, Independent: Sir Ian McKellen first played Hamlet in 1971. Half a century later, at the age of 82, the actor returns to the most demanding of Shakespearean roles in an age-blind production at the beautiful Theatre Royal in Windsor. And he does so in a nail-biting context. Just days before the opening of Sean Mathias's production, the actors playing Polonius and Laertes, Steven Berkoff and Emmanuella Cole, dropped out after reportedly clashing in rehearsals.

Nick Curtis, Independent: He's a vigorous if not dynamic Dane, speaking the verse beautifully, almost mournfully, but is also drily funny. The soliloquies are riveting. It's a privilege to watch and hear him. True, Sean Mathias's production, set on a largely bare stage with a battlement gantry, never quite gets us to a place where age and gender cease to matter. But despite countless Covid holdups and the late departure of two actors in pivotal parts, it's pretty darn fluent.

Clive Davis, The Times: Yes, he can. The first thing to say about this bold but uneven production is that, at 82, Sir Ian McKellen proves that the most celebrated role of them all is not beyond his reach. There may be moments when his voice lacks vigour (I found myself leaning forward to try to catch every word) yet he sketches a subtle portrait of a young man with an old soul. And he can still bound up a ladder or wield a sword.

Sarah Crompton, What's on Stage: If only the production had been as sensational as the anticipation. When Hamlet, directed by Sean Mathias finally opened in sweltering heat, in a non-socially-distanced Edwardian playhouse, what the audience were presented with was a chance to watch one of the greatest actors of our age have another shot at a character whom he first played fifty years ago. And some decent performances around him. It was all right, but it didn't set the world alight.

To post a comment, you must register and login.