To die would be an awfully big adventure

[cyrano]

We closed out with Hamlet, and Dan Donohoe in the title role. He is not a bad actor--you don't get to do Iago and Caliban at Ashland by sucking--but there is something about his style that irritates me. In this performance, despite reminding me of Robin Williams too often, I had less trouble with him, and he was still good.

I like it when people try new things, especially with a work as well played as this*, but I felt like the players didn't fit well. The performance itself was flashy and I liked it, but when the rest of the setting is sixties (Mad Men or Mod men?) then suddenly flipping a single aspect significantly ahead without a discernable reason is jarring. And while I'm asking about jarring, what was up with the surveillance cameras? In the Tennant RSC production, you had the 'you never know who's watching' thing, but these cameras are on stage the entire time. You know exactly when you're being watched, and it's right now.

Despite reservations, I enjoyed it.

*Ophelia's crazy scenes were different and I admired them even if they didn't work as well as one might hope. Hamlet dies before finishing his last line, and that made me giddy.

Comments

[a-belletrist.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Dan Donohoe's rendition of Hamlet, and I enjoyed pretty much all aspects of the staging. I had a couple of issues with a couple of the other actors, but Dan Donohoe and Jeffrey King I thought were fabulous. I also thought Ophelia's mad scenes were pretty much genius.

It was, by far, my favorite show of the Festival.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Then we concur--this was my favorite show of the week as well. Throne might have contended if it weren't for the story issues, but this is a story that's really hard to beat.