Film star Michael Sheen (The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Damned United) is performing to capacity crowds at London’s Young Vic theatre. Director Ian Rickson (most recently acclaimed for Jerusalem) plays with ideas of madness by transferring the action to a high security psychiatric hospital.
Punchdrunk Style
Audience members who arrive half an hour early to the theatre are introduced to the production’s concept with Punchdrunk style immersion. It is no coincidence that Punchdrunk director Maxine Doyle is credited with choreography. Backstage we are taken on a journey along the stark corridors of a hostile institution, inhabited by uniformed wardens and patients in secure rooms. An ominous announcement demands that electronic devices be turned off, as they interfere with treatments. The scene is set.
Elsinore as Psychiatric Hospital
When the play begins the audience becomes voyeur in this claustrophobic asylum. On the stage, chairs are arranged in a circle as if for a group therapy session. Security lights flash and fizz and intercom are used to reveal hidden conversations in the glassed observation room at the back of the stage.
Michael Sheen as Hamlet
Michael Sheen is a dishevelled but charismatic Hamlet. He dominates the stage and makes the audience constantly question the world he inhabits. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears, it is Sheen who takes on his guise and delivers his words as if possessed by the spirit. Are we to believe that he is mad (justifying his incarceration into the psychiatric unit) or is it society (full of murder and mayhem) which is mad? Sheen is in turn depressed and manic – most impressively so during the play within the play where he directs a grotesquely phallic scenario involving his mother and uncle.
Heartbreaking Ophelia
Vinette Robinson as Ophelia initially shines light into this dark world. Later, when driven mad through shock and humiliation, she appears bruised and wheelchair bound. It is a heartbreaking performance. The lament she sings is composed by P. J. Harvey. Michael Gould as Polonius deserves special mention. His doctor/patient relationship with Hamlet creates some fascinating scenes and his use of a Dictaphone (to record his thoughts about Hamlet’s health) brings some comic moments. Rosencrantz (Eileen Walsh) and Guildenstern (Adeel Akhtar) are appropriately quirky and definitely have the best outfits in the production.
Conceptual Problems
Sally Dexter as Gertrude and James Clyde as Claudius are both strong. Yet it is Hamlet’s relationships with these characters which at times stretch the conceptual idea of the production. Is Claudius both psychiatrist and uncle? Is Gertrude both mother and jailer?
Controversial Production
This production is controversial in its staging. It will not appeal to traditionalists and it could be argued that the concept sometimes overpowers the original textual meaning. Yet is it a powerful piece of theatre which will tax its audience and make for good after show discussions in the bar.
Ticket Information
Contact the theatre box office for ticket information. The play runs until 21 January 2012 and there are £10 standby tickets available on the day for each remaining performance.
Jacqui Taylor - I am a part-time librarian, art student and writer. Previously I have done a wide range of jobs - from selling theatre tickets to teaching ...
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