Phillip Bergson

There have been at least 50 film versions of what is probably William Shakespeare's most famous  tragedy Hamlet. There were a goodly number of silent screen shorts, and many celebrated features, most of which more or less trimmed its  customary four hours' traffic of the stage. There have been classical, award-winning versions such as the 1948 production, starring and directed by Sir Laurence Olivier, foreign-language translations- notably in Russian, or as a Finnish farce (Aki Kaurismaki's re-invention), in period garb, or updated and modernised.Only Sir Kenneth Branagah starred and directed in an emtirely  uncut production, with all the 'words, words, words' caught on 70mm, and voiced by a spectacularly starry cast. Now we have been treated to a quite brilliant, inventive, engaging and genial film, directed with flair and finesse by Sean Mathias (a noted stage director but who also made a commendable film based on the hit play Bent,set in a Nazi concentration camp, which I seem to recall had been a project of Rainer Werner Fassbinder).It is rather more than a recording of his sold-out, mid-pandemic production at the famous Theatre Royal, Windsor,aptly in the shadow of another historic castle.

To say it boasts gender-neutral casting barely gets the measure of this highly original venture.Age-insouciant might be a more accurate term, for the central casting coup has a Hamlet who is clearly,en chair et en os, somewhat older than the actress playing his mother ! No less a stage and screen legend than Sir Ian McKellen tackles the title role of the young, troubled prince. There is no attempt at disguising his years either by make-up or costume(it is a semi-contemporary look, perhaps with something of the late 1950s to the cut and colour of some of the costumes), but it works surprisingly well as McKellen not only speaks the familiar lines beautifully, crisply, clearly, as if he has lived their content and philosophy, but also as if he is thinking of their import as he articulates them. Jenny Seagrove makes a splendid Gertrude, the only member of the cast who sounds to be attempting a Danish accent, while as her newly-married husband Jonathan Hyde has authority as the wicked murderer and usurper of the throne, channelling Prince Philip in a naval blazer.Another icon of our stage and cinema screens is Steven Berkoff as an excellent Polonius, fussing and bustling in faded medals, while Frances Barber tackles the Player King with gusto, and an eye-patch.Let us draw a veil over the casting of Laertes, but the sharp-eyed will spot another legendary performer, Francesca Annis, (who began her screen career as Elizabeth Taylor' hand-maiden in  Cleopatra) lurking in the wings and in another unusual role.

The entire film was shot in and and around the Windsor Theatre Royal, on the stage, up in the circle, in the dressing rooms, and by the COVID-cursed stage door.It is simply enthralling, and enjoyed a one day only screening in cinemas across the United Kingdom on Tuesday 27th February 2024, but so original and intriguing is this new production that  I am sure it will be found in some format or other for years to come.

HAMLET  UK 2024  Directed by Sean Mathias. 117 minutes

Phillip Bergson