Hiddleston's Hamlet with RADA

Getting tickets for this show was a nightmare. I entered the ballot and lost, my family entered the ballot and lost, and all my friends I recommended the draw to entered the ballot and lost. However, there was a redraw later and one of my friends won, and as I had been the one to suggest she enter the ballot I was invited to be her +1. After a bit of arranging which involved my frantically logging into a computer at 10am when ticket sales went online and booking the tickets in my friend’s name, together with a few back and forth ‘work’ phone calls as she was on duty at the time, we managed to get tickets for the show. I can’t really complain, few were as lucky as us (as we walked in there was a man standing outside with a small sign ‘Praying for a miracle, do you have a spare ticket’, sadly I don’t think he got his miracle but I hope he gets lucky). I must say it was well worth it.

I have had the good fortune to see Hiddleston perform on stage twice before in the Changeling and Cymbeline, and both times these were tremendous performances I still have great memories of over a decade on. Tonight’s Hamlet was in a similar vein, by far the best I have seen on stage, eclipsing the other star-studded productions I witnessed in the past featuring Tennant and Cumberbatch. The show buzzed with a tremendous energy; Hiddleston delivered the lines so rapidly at times, his fellow actors reciprocated and there was a tremendous back and forth between the actors resulting in the action never slowing down. The man switched personalities and accents at a furious pace and his singing and dancing was a joy to watch.

But whilst the show’s focus is understandably about Hamlet of course (he speaks over 50% of the lines in the play) it would be wrong to ignore the other tremendous performances, all of which contributed to a stellar ensemble production. Hamlet was not my favourite character of the show. In this production it was Polonius who was absolutely hilarious, his lines delivered which such perfect comic timing it had the whole audience bursting into spontaneous laughter. I have never thought of Hamlet as a humorous play but Polonius gave this production some joyful hilarity which every other Hamlet I have seen has lacked. After his death I feared the humour was over, but the grave digger happily took on the role of jester, playing the skulls he unearthed like a xylophone. I did not expect to be amused by this production and it was a pleasant surprise. Claudius too was a very strong performer. I felt there was a distinct resemblance to Richard Nixon in his mannerisms and machinations. He seemed very much in control, a powerful and hard ruler, and his opening speech as a TV broadcast was a wonderful introduction.

Giving the parts of Horatio (Horatia), the guards, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to women was quite a delightful twist. This particular Hamlet it seems had a great number of female friends throughout his life. It made for some of the most entertaining scenes, especially the meeting of Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, who had a delightful dance around a boombox when they reunited after so many years apart. The relationship between Hamlet and Horatia was particularly sweet and the finale was probably the most moving Hamlet death scene I have ever experienced. I also must give a mention to Ophelia who gave the best performance I have ever seen in that role. Ophelia was far feistier then I recall from previous productions, which made a nice change.

The set was tremendously intimate and you were totally drawn into the small space with its bouts of frenzied action, the duel at the end combined with the queen dying being particularly intense. I don’t think I have seen a theatre production this slick and well put together for a very long time.

Before the performance I had a chance to chat to the usher and asked him if he had seen the play. “Yes, I have,” he replied, “14 times”. He refused to answer my question if it was any good, insisting he could not give an opinion; it was theatre after all and everyone thinks something different. I agree to a point, but I feel there are many people who would like to have been in his job over the last few weeks. I can only hope this is not the last time Hiddleston and the others perform a Hamlet of this nature. Everyone should have the chance to witness such an exquisite drama.