Hamlet, Novello Theatre, London

I managed to forget to blog about this before Christmas – all the excitement of an Institutional Audit….

The picture is, of course, a little misleading – I got to see Hamlet but not with David Tennant. I mention this because as good as his understudy, Edward Bennett, undoubtedly was, I find it impossible to review his performance on its own terms. Bennett really did give an excellent performance but not memorable in its own right – there were gaps where the almost maniacal and mesmerising edge that Tennant can bring to a performance would have fitted.

It wasn’t a one-man show – Oliver Ford Davies as Polonius was beautiful, touching and funny. Patrick Stewart was magnificant (it being entirely understandable that an otherwise drippy and forgettable Ophelia should try to rip his clothes off at one point…:-) )

The set design was stunning with mirrored surfaces on the floor and backdrop. This was put to use from the very first scene, with the actors bouncing beams of light off the floor to illuminate each other’s faces in an eery opening scene. As the audience looked at its own reflection, the set became the embodiment of Shakespeare’s injunction to ‘hold the mirror up to nature’.