Comments on: David Tennant – a Hamlet you can actually like… http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/ Website of MG Harris, author of 'The Joshua Files' children's adventure book series Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:02:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Gareth http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-2576 Gareth Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:49:04 +0000 http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-2576 Lovely review - as I missed the production, it's nice to get such a personal account of your experience. I like Tennant's interpretation, as far as it is captured on film, and he adds something important to the role. The likeability is vital, I think, and I disagree slightly with your feeling that we are not supposed to like Hamlet. He is by some distance Shakespeare's most intelligent character; he is funny; he is a step or two ahead of everyone, yet is desperately vulnerable. He holds in him our desires for revenge balanced with, or fighting against, our instinct for peace and mercy. He is a modern man, the ideal modern man, trapped in the wrong place and time. If we are scared of him, t is because we are scared for ourselves. I don't imagine there will ever be a definitive performance of Hamlet, but Patrick Stewart comes close to that with his Claudius, I think. He allows us to think at times that he can measure up against his nephew, making his miserable failings all the more pathetic. Perfectly awful. Lovely review – as I missed the production, it’s nice to get such a personal account of your experience.

I like Tennant’s interpretation, as far as it is captured on film, and he adds something important to the role. The likeability is vital, I think, and I disagree slightly with your feeling that we are not supposed to like Hamlet. He is by some distance Shakespeare’s most intelligent character; he is funny; he is a step or two ahead of everyone, yet is desperately vulnerable. He holds in him our desires for revenge balanced with, or fighting against, our instinct for peace and mercy. He is a modern man, the ideal modern man, trapped in the wrong place and time. If we are scared of him, t is because we are scared for ourselves.

I don’t imagine there will ever be a definitive performance of Hamlet, but Patrick Stewart comes close to that with his Claudius, I think. He allows us to think at times that he can measure up against his nephew, making his miserable failings all the more pathetic. Perfectly awful.

]]> By: Jim Wearne http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-2336 Jim Wearne Sun, 02 May 2010 15:40:04 +0000 http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-2336 I'm very surprised that more people have not commented on the cut that was made at the end. The script does not end with "The rest is silence." The following lines allow us to break away from the dramatic bubble that Hamlet's death in Horatio's arms has created and see the action's conclusion in terms of the greater world of Shakespeare's Denmark. They give us a chance to recover from the scene and to take a breath before the lights come up. To delete the last minutes of Hamlet is no better than deleting the last bars of Beethoven's 9th. I can only suppose that many of those who saw the production or film have never read the play nor seen another, better production to know what should follow "The rest is silence." If more knew, more would protest. All of this, of course is (as they say these days)IMHO. Jim Wearne I’m very surprised that more people have not commented on the cut that was made at the end. The script does not end with “The rest is silence.” The following lines allow us to break away from the dramatic bubble that Hamlet’s death in Horatio’s arms has created and see the action’s conclusion in terms of the greater world of Shakespeare’s Denmark. They give us a chance to recover from the scene and to take a breath before the lights come up. To delete the last minutes of Hamlet is no better than deleting the last bars of Beethoven’s 9th. I can only suppose that many of those who saw the production or film have never read the play nor seen another, better production to know what should follow “The rest is silence.” If more knew, more would protest. All of this, of course is (as they say these days)IMHO.
Jim Wearne

]]> By: MG http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-663 MG Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:25:03 +0000 http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-663 Thanks angelesque! I'm with you on where they cut the ending, too. Thanks angelesque!

I’m with you on where they cut the ending, too.

]]> By: angelesque http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-661 angelesque Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:11:50 +0000 http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-661 I went to see the play on 1st August - I thought it was fabulous! What a fantastic way to introduce your daughter to it - I'm actually slightly envious that she came to the story completely fresh and every twist and turn of the plot was a genuine surprise... I totally agree with you about the final scene. i found the deaths a little too... hurried? I know they all come in quick succession in the text, but some of the deaths (especially Gertrude's, and to a degree Claudius's) felt a little token... I did think that David's death scene was great though, and (controversially) I loved that they finished on 'the rest is silence', removing Horatio's speech and the detail about Fortinbras... Great review! I went to see the play on 1st August – I thought it was fabulous! What a fantastic way to introduce your daughter to it – I’m actually slightly envious that she came to the story completely fresh and every twist and turn of the plot was a genuine surprise…

I totally agree with you about the final scene. i found the deaths a little too… hurried? I know they all come in quick succession in the text, but some of the deaths (especially Gertrude’s, and to a degree Claudius’s) felt a little token… I did think that David’s death scene was great though, and (controversially) I loved that they finished on ‘the rest is silence’, removing Horatio’s speech and the detail about Fortinbras…

Great review!

]]> By: Keith http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-660 Keith Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:39:52 +0000 http://www.mgharris.net/2008/08/05/david-tennant-a-hamlet-you-can-actually-like/#comment-660 Mg, Ahh, David Tennant. Heard his name, though never a fan. Nice review, though. Hope you enjoyed it. - ~Ag!~ Mg,

Ahh, David Tennant. Heard his name, though never a fan. Nice review, though. Hope you enjoyed it.

-
~Ag!~

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