Leeds Playhouse – until 30th March 2019
Reviewed by Dawn Smallwood
5*****
Following their success of Romeo and Juliet which was played in the Playhouse two years ago Shakespeare’s Hamlet is brought on stage during their exciting Pop-Up season. Amy Leach (who directed Romeo and Juliet) directs Hamlet, a modern contemporary retelling of the classic tragedy, and it stars Tessa Parr (who starred as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet) in the lead role.
It is about a young woman who returns from university to only find out her father, the King of Denmark, is dead and her mother, Gertrude (Jo Mousley), very soon after remarried her uncle, Claudius (Joe Alessi). Hamlet’s grief turns to anger when she finds out through the ghost of her father (Robert Pickavance) that her uncle murdered him and she seeks revenge.
Hamlet is certainly the tragedy of all Shakespeare’s tragedies and looks in detail how the tragedy affects all the characters and the impact it has on the families and the community. This production allows a thorough exploration of the characters amid the strong emerging themes of greed, power, revenge and ultimately murder and death. Mental health and distress play a big part and they are defining factors particularly among Hamlet as she is declared “mad” by her family. It also affects Ophelia (Simona Bitmate) who struggles with the events that affected their relationship between her and Hamlet.
The play tragically ends with an all-out fencing fight between Hamlet and Laertes (Dan Parr) which immediately changes the future of Denmark and the play also creatively underlines the political struggles with the other neighbouring kingdoms.
Hayley Grindle’s dark stunning staging is ambient, atmospheric and it represents the mood and spirit of Hamlet particularly with its strong themes. The space is versatile and creatively well used and every inch is certainly not wasted and symmetries well with Joshua Carr’s dimmed but effective lighting.
Parr plays this unique re-gendering role and crucially adds a fresh dimension to Hamlet. The re-gendering of Hamlet offers artists and creators opportunities to re-address the tragedy’s well known themes and how they and also its characters can relate to the world today particularly with regards to gender, sexuality and equality. This production had reignited the imagination of many that Hamlet can be a play for the 21st Century as much as when it was first written.
Parr is absolutely outstanding as Hamlet and articulately portrays this troubled character on stage and she is supported by the rest of an amazing cast including the Pop-Up season’s ensemble and young actors from the Playhouse’s youth programmes. An outstanding play from beginning to end and a big thanks to the cast and also to Leach and her talented creative team. Certainly a must see production and is on at the Playhouse until the end of March.