By Jessica Taurins
A reviewer’s dilemma: how to critique a performance of Hamlet without the written musicality of the bard himself? How can anyone really put to words what it means to see a Shakespearean production in movement and life?
Here, I must try.
The venue for Hamlet is intimate. fortyfivedownstairs is a small venue made smaller by the actors rising from their seats to join the performance. As the tension rises the air drains from the room until all that’s left is a transparently thin veneer of separation between audience and actor, and even then, sometimes that is broken too.
Director Iain Sinclair calls out “passionate communication” as his focus when crafting Hamlet, and this is evident in all layers of the show. There are maybe 70 people in the room, actors and audience alike, and every one of them is involved in some level of interaction between themselves and the people around them.
As the titular Hamlet, Jacob Collins-Levy is indescribably impressive. Hamlet isn’t exactly a breeze to memorise or perform, but Collins-Levy is the very embodiment of Hamlet in every moment he stands onstage (or behind it). Collins-Levy is not just playing Hamlet, but living him – casting sarcastic glances towards the audience and reacting physically even when no other character is watching him. Collins-Levy is the shining star of the show, fully leaning into the tragedy of Hamlet with all his innate rage and sadness flowing outward into the atmosphere.
Other standouts among the cast are Emmanuelle Mattana and Orion Carey-Clark as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, another duo using their physicality to great effect. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are small roles – important, but small – yet Mattana and Carey-Clark are a real delight to watch. The pair only ever appear together, playing well off each other and providing an incredibly awkward vibe. They give off the appearance of not wanting to be a part of the plot they find themselves in, yet they must participate, and they play it well.
Darren Gilshenan as Polonius, Aisha Aidara as Ophelia, and Laurence Boxhall as Laertes are all well cast. Boxhall is present for the top and tail of the show but the vengeful rage his Laertes demonstrates – a mirror to Hamlet’s own – is enthralling and terrifying all in one. Aidara as Ophelia starts as a darling young lady, but is soon destroyed by Hamlet’s cruelty and the death of her father. Aidara’s Ophelia tends to err on the side of slightly too melodramatic – something shared by Gilshenan’s Polonius, so perhaps just a familial trait! – but her downfall from sweet thing to a creature of despair is crushing, nonetheless.
Gilshenan’s Polonius is intriguing. Polonius is a buffoon of a character, farting around (literally) at parties and attempting to manipulate Hamlet while failing to see that he is being puppeteered instead. Gilshenan brings tenderness to him in a way that the text does not, developing realism in the one-note character, which makes Polonius’ exit from the show all the sadder.
In terms of exits, this rendition of Hamlet sends deceased characters back to the crowd. Not to spoil a 400 year old play or anything, but there are no happy endings here. Instead of characters disappearing off stage, the actors haunt the audience as ghosts, sitting between us and watching the dregs of life wash from their companions. Some characters greet their loved ones with joy, and some with despair, but seeing their interactions on stage in a kind of half-life / half-limbo only serves to deepen the well-developed emotional connection.
Peter Houghton as Claudius and Natasha Herbert as Gertrude are Succession-esque as the Danish royals. The pair dress the most formally of all characters – Tait Adams outfits them in modern day suits and soft satins – and present themselves as perfect rules, so as their clothing is removed and destroyed, so too do they fall from grace. Houghton is delectably hateable as the source of Hamlet’s revenge plot, and Herbert is almost pitiable as she plays her role in it all as well.
Natalia Velasco Moreno’s lighting design is simple yet effective, greatly enhancing the performance. To fit the modern outfits, the characters often use phones as torches instead of candles or natural light, which makes all the ghost hunts a little more exciting! Adams’ set design is also simple, in the most part the stage is empty but for the actors, but towards the end of the show the set is transformed into a graveyard and is never cleaned again, a fitting end for many of the story’s stars.
Alas, poor Yorick, they trampled his grave.
The fortyfivedownstairs performance of Hamlet is irresistible in its adherence to tradition while including modernity. There is a scene where the older characters struggle to unlock a younger character’s phone, which maintains the legacy of the piece while making it relatable. Characters wear paper cracker crowns as mockeries of the royal positions, an incredibly old tradition still understood by people today.
Although this is Shakespeare’s longest play at over three hours, the cast and crew do well to make the time fly past. There are no moments of watch-checking as the performance builds to its firecracker ending, with not a dry eye in the house during the final grief-stricken moments. A stunning show put on with a clear outpouring of love, this is absolutely mandatory viewing.
Images: Ben Andrews
