Hamlet directed by Gregory Doran
Latest news at 10 Jan: David Tennant has made good progress following his recent back operation and will perform the title role in Hamlet this evening.
Please check our website www.rsc.org.uk from 12 noon for an update for that evening's performance. Alternatively, please call the RSC Box Office on 0844 800 1114 or the Novello Theatre Box Office on 0844 482 5135. The production ends its run at the Novello Theatre on 10 January.
Shakespeare's great tragedy of a young man haunted by his father's ghost and driven to the edge of madness in his obsession to avenge his death.
'It says much for the quality of Greg Doran's production and the depth of the RSC ensemble that David Tennant’s understudy, Edward Bennett, assumed the role with great style and achieved a well-deserved ovation at the curtain call. Much of the strength of Doran's production lies in the surrounding casting. Patrick Stewart is a masterly Claudius, who starts as a smoothly duplicitous figure, slowly disintegrating. By the end he is so aware he has been outwitted that he almost gratefully accepts the poisoned cup from Hamlet. And when was there a better Polonius than Oliver Ford Davies? He has exactly the right mix of courtly sycophancy, personal cunning and sad senility. This is a first rate production that gives Edward Bennett a well-merited moment in the sun.'
Guardian
I cannot think of a more terrifying assignment for an actor than the one that faced Edward Bennett last night. As understudy for David Tennant’s widely and wildly praised Hamlet he had to take over the role for the press performance at just a few hours’ notice. In the circumstances he put on a remarkable show. You would never have guessed from the self-confidence and composure of his performance, for which he won a standing ovation from the supportive first night audience, that this was a stand-in Hamlet. Gregory Doran’s spectacular, modern-dress, mainly bare-stage production, with designer Robert Jones’s mirrored walls, giant, swinging doors and gaggle of chandeliers, offers a far more oppressive sense of Elsinore as a prison than at Stratford. Some performances illuminate the Hamlet picture well: Mariah Gale’s bereft Ophelia drifts into a painful madness, while Patrick Stewart’s Claudius proves a mild-mannered, bespectacled chuckler, with a hidden, vicious streak and a suicidal impulse.
Evening Standard
'It is a bold, fast-paced production, and beautifully acted production. It is hard to judge whether Patrick Stewart is better as the ghost or the king, both of them are so good. Penny Downie is a beautiful, elegant and thoroughly believable Gertrude. With such a rich cast and a director at the top of his form, even the absence of David Tennant cannot detract from a production which should be rated among the best modern Hamlets.'
Independent
Hamlet plays at the Novello Theatre in London from 3 December 2008 - 10 January 2009 after transferring from Stratford-upon-Avon.
Running time
The running time for Hamlet is 3 hours and 35 minutes including an interval of 20 minutes.
Access performances
Assisted performances on 16 December, 18 December.
Additional information
Find out more about Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Download the RSC's London Season schedule.
Please note this production is now sold out. Check with the Novello Theatre Box Office on the day of performance for day seats and returns.
