When Doctor Who was reduced to four specials last year, leaving all Doctor Who fans forced to subside on a diet of reruns on BBC3 between the BBC’s carefully rationed (by which I mean, dartboard scheduling) of the specials, the reason behind such planning was David Tennant’s unavailability for filming, as he had been asked to play Hamlet in a production of Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Who if you haven’t heard of them (you philistine), are quite a big and impressive outfit in the UK and worldwide for their productions.
While I wasn’t fortunate enough to go up to the glamour and urban decay of our nations’ glorious capital to see the show in person, I was lucky enough to tune into it with a multitude (or a couple anyway, given the viewing habits of the British Public) of other people on BBC2 and see a lavishly produced screen adaptation of the show.
Was it worth the time away from being Doctor Who? Was David’s acting up to it, or would this be the Doctor in Denmark?
I was glad to see this was not the case!
The RSC have given things an update in setting, and as a result the characters are wearing modern-day clothes – Hamlet spends most of the play in jeans and a T-shirt, or a sharp-looking tuxedo, and likewise the other cast members are dressed in modern clothing. Luckily, they haven’t done the same with the dialogue, which results in some kind of stilted, horrifying, and dumbed-down version…
The production is great too. The sets are all very atmospheric and moody. Of course, as it’s a play and not a film, it’s not quite as finished and detailed, but the effect is there. There’s even some parts of it filmed outside, such as the graveyard scenes, and in an authentic castle corridor, for the ghost scenes.
The use of CCTV cameras for some scenes is an interesting idea too, giving things a big-brother, claustrophobic feel, and adding a unique perspective on certain scenes, especially those of Hamlet alone and indulging in talking to himself and toppling over the precipice of madness – something David Tennant plays well.
Tennant brings a great amount of his playing the Doctor to the role… but not too much. He has the same mental energy of an electrocuted ferret, but also brings the gravitas and drama he has too, and shows his training off well. He plays batshit mad very well, and uses his great range of facial expressions to great effect to show it, and everything else. His changes in voice and tone for the script also come in great use, and he shows the meaning of the unfamiliar language well by using his voice.
Putting him up against Patrick Stewart is of course a fantastic idea too. Long before he was Captain Picard or Professor Xavier, he was of course trained and studied as a classical Shakespearean Ac-tor (ahem-hem-hem!), and is as such, a fantastic one.
The strength of the production comes really from the cast, and the pedigree it has. It’s not without it’s faults, however. It’s a tad too slow and wandering in places, and on TV, it probably isn’t as grand as it would be on the stage, as it was meant to be seen. The contemporary updating of the setting is good, but seems strange alongside the use of swords and knives by the soldiers and other characters (except for the duel at the end, which is changed to a fencing duel).
All in all, I’d have no problems saying it was good – but I’d love to see it on the stage, to get the real effect. As for whether it was worth the absence from Doctor Who – well, that’s a matter of personal opinion. Personally, I’d still liked to have had a full season of Doctor Who – but I also liked what I saw of this, so it’s hard to say. The Specials haven’t been excellent… but this was something kinda special, so I’d say that Hamlet was worth the while to take a look.
