There are More Things in Heaven and Earth...

On Saturday, a copy of Hamlet came in the mail from our local Netflix distributing warehouse. I'm in charge of maintaining our Netflix queue, so even though I had been wanting to see this particular version, released in 2009 by the Royal Shakespeare Company in England, I had to wait until after my parents had gotten what they'd added to the queue earlier. I planned to watch it that day, but decided to see if my parents wanted to watch it as well, so we didn't end up sitting down to it until 8:00, and I was the only one who didn't nod off at one point. This version was filmed off stage, but the actors performed the piece on-stage for a live audience as well.

My family owns a copy of Hamlet, which I read last summer because I figured it was probably something I should be familiar with. Except for that reading I did on my own, I had little experience with Hamlet; I've never seen it acted before, and I had a vague idea about a scene with a mother and son and a ghost. So one of the reasons I decided to add this to our queue was to be better acquainted with the story.

I'm not going lie, though. The real major reason I wanted to watch this version of Hamlet was because I knew David Tennant was playing the title role. I (along with most of the world, I bet) am only familiar with Tennant as the ever-popular Tenth Doctor, the role he held for four years on Doctor Who, and I wanted to see what else he could do as an actor. By renting this movie, I figured I could hit two birds with one stone.

David Tennant as Hamlet in the Gravedigger scene, with the skull of Yorick.

Even if Tennant wasn't playing Hamlet, however, I think this was a superb version to decide to watch. It was done in a modern style, with modern dress and sets that didn't detract from the Shakespearean theme at all, I thought, and if anything seemed to drive the emotion deeper. The camera-work was particularly interesting; they used some security camera feed to highlight the invisibility of the ghost, and there were limited camera angles, making each scene look almost on-stage but without giving the impression of a limited view. The whole movie had a stylized taste to it that drew me, at least, into the story.

I was impressed, however, by Tennant's talent, as shown off in this version of Hamlet. He is able to appear in genuine pain, and express that pain across to the audience in a way that almost makes the dialogue and soliloquy unnecessary. I recognized that ability from certain episodes of Doctor Who, but it was powerful to see interpreted in Hamlet. (I also noticed that the director made good use of Tennant's ability to act completely mental on-camera, as seen in every episode of Doctor Who, and when Hamlet starts acting crazy.)

A month or so ago, I watched a version of Macbeth that I only later realized was also done by the Royal Shakespeare Company as well. Both Macbeth and Hamlet starred Patrick Stewart in a major role (Macbeth and Hamlet's Uncle Claudius), and they were both done in a Modernized style. Both, I felt, were emotionally powerful, and if this is the quality of work the Royal Shakespeare Company puts out, I can understand why they're still world-renown as a standard in theater production. Since I can't actually see their stage performances, I'll be looking forward to more filmed productions in the future.