Incredible Hamlet on PBS
Posted: April 22nd, 2010, 12:21 am
On April 28, courtesy the RSC. Aired on the BBC just after last Christmas. Got my DVR ready, can't wait because only time I've seen this was on a laptop a while back. David Tennant is Hamlet, probably the best performance I've ever seen in that role. A caveat - some Shakespeare plays are my all-time favorite stories, but for whatever reason I've never been a real Hamlet fan, so I've only seen half a dozen different versions. Derek Jacobi has been my gold standard. Haven't watched his stuff in years so I'd like to go back and compare him to this one.
The production has a few downsides but like I said, Tennant is terrific. So is Oliver Ford Davies as Polonius. You should watch it for these two alone. Patrick Stewart is the big name in this, and I know he's one of the top RSC actors of his era, but I wasn't blown away. One reason might be I cannot picture this guy saying anything except stuff like, "Make it so." Not a Trekkie but that's how I first heard of him. No way for me to get over that.
The production has a few downsides but like I said, Tennant is terrific. So is Oliver Ford Davies as Polonius. You should watch it for these two alone. Patrick Stewart is the big name in this, and I know he's one of the top RSC actors of his era, but I wasn't blown away. One reason might be I cannot picture this guy saying anything except stuff like, "Make it so." Not a Trekkie but that's how I first heard of him. No way for me to get over that.