Occasion smiles upon a second leave…

Paapa Essiedu (Hamlet); Tanya Moodie (Gertrude) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

This is a landmark production: Paapa Essiedu is the first black actor to play Hamlet for the RSC in its 55‑year history. He is charismatic, capricious and compelling: an impulsive, arresting presence at the heart of a production that reframes the dilemmas in the play by setting it in an unnamed African state.

– Repcillin: Royal Shakespeare Company Moves Hamlet to Africa

Let’s get one thing out of the way. It is probably impracticable even attempting to prevent Hamlet becoming – for all intents and purposes (that is, from both the producer’s and consumer’s perspectives) – something of a ‘star vehicle’. (One only has to think, for example, of Ben Kingsley in Buzz Goodbody’s similarly “landmark” 1975 staging. Or, more recently, of, ahem, Benedict Cumberbatch.)

The principal character dominates (if not monopolizes, or even overwhelms) the play: having just short of 1,100 lines – a third of the total (and twice as many as Claudius: who has the next highest number). He is also on-stage in over two-thirds of the scenes. It is difficult, therefore, to see how even the greatest, shrewdest production (for which title the current RSC run is an odds-on contender…) can get away from “showcasing the actor’s talents” – resulting in just one performer collecting the lion’s share of the coverage: a focus which may be to the detriment not only of other members of the cast, but also of the creative team.

Even I teetered on the crumbling edge of this hard-to-avoid heffalump trap (tempted “toward the flood”), when penning my original assessment:

I was going to begin this… by writing that you should never believe the hype… – unless, of course, it isn’t actually puffery, but reality… – in which case you should pay it very close attention. And, in this case, anything you may have heard probably doesn’t even begin to describe just how mature, well-developed, talented, charismatic, etc. Essiedu is. Simply put, he is astounding.

I did, at least, then praise every other actor in turn – and in detail…!

However, despite declaring that “it is Paul Wills’ imaginative design, and Simon Godwin’s intelligent direction, that generate the audacious, cohesive and fascinating, gripping, universe in which the action takes place”, I did fail (after having gushed out over two thousand words) to expand on this, and explain or delineate how or why this “universe” is as vital to the production’s achievements as that “principal character” (and its player).

There are several possible reasons (excuses?) for this (apart from my attempted avoidance of Infinite Monkey Cage syndrome). At the RSC, it is usually a given (although I am not a major fan of this word – just struggling for a synonym…) that the sets will be technically awesome (and usually well-integrated, rather than overwhelming… – apart from, say, er, Cymbeline…): and, to be honest, I have probably become over-accustomed to this. Additionally, it didn’t help – although, of course, this is a positive… – that the acting (from all quarters) really was so astonishing that this was all I could think, and therefore write, about. Finally, knowing that I would be returning to see the play again (and again, and again), I thought this might provide me with an opportunity – as it has – to discuss both the African setting and the inspired, befitting casting.

These two review excerpts supply the best précis, I feel, of the points I am trying to make:

The RSC’s latest Hamlet… starring Paapa Essiedu… is an intuitive and responsive telling of the Prince’s tragedy. An exceptional cast and creative team present the feudal tale of murder, revenge and unravelling senses with a modern day outlook. The play’s contemporary setting complete with backpackers and bongs combined with the African backdrop brings a fresh energy to the tale….

     The power of Shakespeare’s writing is its ability to transcend time and place. But it remains the obligation of theatre makers to keep classic work accessible and dynamic. Mission accomplished. This Elsinore designed by Paul Wills is alive with vivid African prints, hip swaying dance scenes and djembe drum rhythms. This context is especially stirring in the scene where Hamlet first encounters his father’s ghost. Ewart James Walters materialises from the stage in a hazy mist to the quickening drum beats. Revealing his betrayal in tremulous tones, he looks every inch the monarch in vibrant kente cloth. The ensemble scenes are wildly energetic. The players, sent for to relieve Hamlet from his melancholy, traverse the stage in colourful costumes with playful choreography designed by Mbulelo Ndabeni.

– Gillian Fisher: RSC Hamlet – review

Director Simon Godwin’s adaptation of Hamlet is a breath of fresh air, the vibrant production set in Africa brings bright colours and intensity to the classic Shakespeare play.

     Known as a dark, dismal play, Godwin creates an indescribable atmosphere which reflects the setting and traditions of an African monarchy…. There is a constant pulse throughout the show as the use of an African band not only sets the tone but builds the tension, it creates an electric ambience that maintains pace throughout the transitions and amplifies the expressive scenes….

     The African adaptation lifts the play’s ability to [capture] the audience, partly because of the contemporary feel the brightness of the play creates.

– Sincerely, Amy: REVIEW | Hamlet | RSC

And, as a good (and wise) friend opined the day after my first visit, it seems, with hindsight (of course), so obvious to stage the play this way – that is (in the words of the RSC’s casting press release), in a “modern state influenced by the ritual, beauty and cosmology of West Africa… where, as a character, Hamlet could feel dislocated, where he could feel conflicted by the demands of his ancestors against the pressure to find a new way of thinking” – especially as this brings an abundance of relevance and resonance.

The company – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

He was not of an age but for all time!

– Ben Jonson

When we think of Denmark, nowadays, we may think of hygge and LEGO (and perhaps wind power… – insert Polonius joke here…). We certainly do not think of a tyrannical, dictatorial nation at war – both within and without its boundaries….

It’s contemporary. It’s set in an imaginary country that has influences from all the members of our cast and Hamlet is coming from a separate world into another world, which he doesn’t understand.

– Paapa Essiedu: interviewed by Gillian Fisher (for Afridiziak Theatre News)

The company: including Kevin N Golding (Player King); Theo Ogundipe (Lucianus) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

Such a sight as this

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.

It would be opportune, I suppose, to use this review, therefore, as the launching point for a discussion of race and “colour blindness” in theatre (especially in Stratford; especially in Shakespeare), given its setting and company – but I (and many others) have (sadly) been there before; and more than once.

This production is certainly proof that we are not short of stunningly-gifted Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) actors in this country – as both Hecuba and the RSC’s 2012 “all black” Julius Caesar also demonstrated. Every single cast member is simply mesmerizing – evidence, as I wrote in my first review, “that giving small parts to great actors pays dividends in the quality stakes”.

(Nuff sed.)

Natalie Simpson (Ophelia) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

I always believe it’s better to have 30 imaginations working on a project, rather than one imagination telling the other 29 what to do. I love to have as much input as possible. However, I also think there’s a point where structure is extremely important. All of those energies have to become one energy.

– Trevor Nunn

Despite the plethora of cameras and other filming apparatus at Tuesday’s matinée – and a similar amount (by volume) of fidgeting, uniformed teenagers gaggled directly under my nose (who, to begin with, did not distract me in any way) – before the interval I felt completely, truly immersed. (This may have been partly caused by the prodromal phase of a vestibular migraine I am still experiencing – a condition whose precursive auras often provoke such an ocular ‘visitation’: sometimes bringing with them wired, spaced-out, yet tightly-focused, bouts of intense ‘presence’ – my own “spirit of health” or “thing appear’d again”, if you will.) Fresh air (and effective medication) in the break meant that I struggled to be so pleasantly ‘turned on, tuned in’ for the second half: but the production’s magnetic coherence did not wane (‘drop out’) one jot.

This is not as frequent a state – the “coherence”, not the migraine… – as I would desire. (Sitting on the front row, the first time I saw Doctor Faustus is a recent example; listening to Tamsin Waley-Cohen raise Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto to ethereal heights, another. There are not many….) Any performance that flies by, seemingly bypassing time, overtaking its “winged chariot”, for me, has achieved its purpose. Should your mind, your imagination, similarly float (hopefully with the actors), way above the clouds of reality and disbelief, then perhaps, on returning home, you should note this enlightenment, this exaltation, this extended moment of ecstasy, in some form of diary (or even history book). Hang onto it with all your might.

Paapa Essiedu (Hamlet); Hiran Abeysekera (Horatio) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

A great movie evolves when everybody has the same vision in their heads.

– Alan Parker

The real point I’m trying to make – writing this in discrete chunks of text (rather than my usual “gush”), because of illness… (another “excuse”) – is that, without the platform being raised mountain-high by the quality and pertinent imagination of the encompassing design and directorial vision; along with the consequent excellence of the whole company of actors and creatives (including Kevin McCurdy’s terrifyingly authentic combative choreography); we would not be raving about the performance that conquers its peak in such heady terms. That Essiedu is capable of surmounting such a summit, of course, says much about his prodigious capabilities, and the no doubt eminent career that lies ahead. (I just hope that he always find himself surrounded – as he does in this production – with coequals, rather than subordinates.)

The Fresh Prince of Elsinore…

Paapa Essiedu (Hamlet); Ewart James Walters (Gravedigger) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

Despite it being a play ostensibly about a young man, Hamlet – which I saw last night (the first of at least three viewings of this RSC production – which could never be enough…) – strongly called to mind, for me, many of the themes of King Lear. (Although it may be that I find myself just a little too immersed in the later drama – for me, Shakespeare’s greatest – especially with Michael Pennington in the lead rôle.) For instance, family and inheritance are obviously central to both plays. Their plots also pivot around the central character’s descent into madness – real or, in this case, feigned – and its tumultuous, deadly effects on those around them.

Hamlet… loses his anchors: as home, family, heritage and a sense of dynastic destiny all crumble away. As he struggles against an existential crisis that simultaneously overcomes his psyche and his kingdom, he finds himself in a twilight between madness and powerful insight.

– Augustus Casely-Hayford: The Limbo Between Worlds (programme note)

Finally, there is the invocation of angry and vengeful deities to excuse human spite. Just the one god, in Hamlet – “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will…” – and only, seemingly, a last-minute conversion.

…the Act V god who inspires its belated resolution is characterised exclusively as a god of “rashness”, one who releases Hamlet’s trigger-hand, rather than encouraging him to repent.

– Ewan Fernie: Poem Unlimited (programme note)

Oh… and the other factor these plays have in common – at least in this year’s ‘Shakespeare 400’ renditions – is the sheer magnetism and talent of the (what I can only describe as) legends playing the eponymous rôles; as well as the consistently soaring quality of the company and creatives surrounding them. That I have been fortunate enough to see such perfection in so short a time is nothing short of miraculous.

Paapa Essiedu (Hamlet) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

It is immensely hard (almost impossible) to take your (frequently tearful) eyes off Paapa Essiedu’s Hamlet – …but you must. The earthquakes he sets in motion – the shockwaves he radiates – provoke reactions in those around him that are not to be missed. (This is where my habitual repeated visits come into their own.) Tanya Moodie’s initially controlled Gertrude, and her knowing, forced smiles in the presence of ‘Uncle’ Claudius – a mesmerizing, believable, and fascinatingly sympathetic portrayal from Clarence Smith – and Cyril Nri’s Polonius (probably the best I have ever witnessed), and his increasingly paranoiac ramblings, as well as his obvious, touching love for his children (Marcus Griffiths, a resolute, but deeply emotional Laertes; and Natalie Simpson, born to play the doomed Ophelia…), just a few of the many, many highlights.

I shall therefore do what I did for King Lear, then: and run through (if you see what I mean) the cast list – feebly delineating each actor’s strengths. (I can currently think of no weaknesses.)

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

Despite my doubts as to his heroic status in Cymbeline, here, Hiran Abeysekera is an immensely strong Horatio: obviously adoring – and just a little in awe of – his BFF, Hamlet. His howls at the latter’s death – followed by some of the most beautiful words I think Shakespeare ever wrote: here so flawlessly uttered that I wish the play ended there and then (truly, “the rest is silence”), without dragging us back to Fortinbras’ military reality – “Why does the drum come hither?” – could certainly have been Lear’s. This can be an unrewarding, overshadowed part, in the wrong hands. But his astute observations – particularly of Claudius’ villainy, and Ophelia’s stumblings towards insanity – are credible and movingly rendered. This is a performance of great subtlety, loyalty and love – and you could, therefore, easily understand why Marcellus and Barnardo – and Hamlet – show such trust in him.

Romayne Andrews – so versatile and amusing in Cymbeline – sadly gets little opportunity to shine: although, as the affected “lapwing” Osric, his togs certainly do (and are matched by his wit)! His bravery, though, as the judge of Hamlet’s and Laertes’ duel, is astounding.

Kevin N Golding (Player King); Doreene Blackstock (Player Queen) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

We do not see enough of Doreene Blackstock, either, as the Player Queen – although her thirty lines of verse (and awesome Queen of Hearts wig) are an utter delight! (In fact, if there is one flaw – but only in comparison with the RSC’s previous production of Hamlet – I thought the play-within-a-play went by too quickly. But then, all three hours and fifteen minutes flew by in a flash: so, as Einstein might have said, such things are relative.)

Eke Chukwu (a fabulously authoritative Caius Lucius in Cymbeline) is also under-used. He has such a commanding stage presence, though, that each of his twenty-lines stands strong.

James Cooney – as a Johnny Depp-like Rosencrantz – and Bethan Cullinane – Guildenstern (and where gender-swapping did add depth…) – act their sycophantic rôles admirably. But I have always found both parts immensely unsympathetic – for which you can, of course, blame Tom Stoppard. That I was delighted at the loss of their joint heads (that famous line beautifully proclaimed by Byron Mondahl) shows, though, how perfectly their treachery and incompetence shone through!

Another great actor in another pair of tiny rôles – one of the Players, and the one-line Cornelia – is Marième Diouf: demonstrating just how talented and strong this company really is. (She is understudying Ophelia – and rightly so.)

Paapa Essiedu (Hamlet) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

I was going to begin this review, originally, by writing that you should never believe the hype… – unless, of course, it isn’t actually puffery, but reality… – in which case you should pay it very close attention. And, in this case, anything you may have heard probably doesn’t even begin to describe just how mature, well-developed, talented, charismatic, etc. Essiedu is. Simply put, he is astounding.

It helps, I think – and is extremely rewarding (and quite unusual) – seeing someone of the right age playing Hamlet. (Huzzah.) Not only does he utterly live the rôle, rather than perform it – although his marked madness is so perfectly painted that you see the character ‘acting’ it, rather than the player… – but his actions are accordingly all the more believable.

He looked astonished – although it could just have been sheer knackeredness (how he puts himself through this, emotionally and physically, over and over again, is beyond my imagination…) – at the cheers he raised, stood alone, in the centre of the stage, after the initial curtain calls. But he deserves as much approbation as can be mustered. This is a Hamlet like no other (and one, I am sure, that will be discussed in fifty years time – when he similarly conquers Lear – with the hushed reverence that, say, accompanies conversations about Peter Brook’s ‘white box’ 1970 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream…). I am therefore as impatient to see his Edmund in the forthcoming RSC King Lear as I am to see this play again… – in fact, he is now the main attraction.

Tanya Moodie (Gertrude); Clarence Smith (Claudius) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

Similarly, Kevin N Golding – in the many parts he plays: particularly the Player King (where he is as regal and authoritative as both Old Hamlet and Claudius – both of which he understudies…) – grabs you with every line he utters.

And Marcus Griffiths (understudying Hamlet, of course…)? Well, the man can do no wrong in my eyes. As hinted at above, his Laertes is more thoughtful, more profound than may be apparent in the text. His considered performance also brings a vulnerability (underneath all that muscular, macho posturing) that is deeply affecting; and his dying embrace of Hamlet – finally united in their joint love of Ophelia – is breathtaking.

We need to see more of Byron Mondahl, though. Such a wonderful voice, and with such humanity… – I would love to see him play Gloucester – or even Prospero.

Tanya Moodie’s extraordinary Gertrude is a matriarch steeped in suffering, delusion, misguided love, and a desire to play by rules real or imagined. In the first half, she teeters constantly on the verge of unveiling her true feelings; but it is only when confronted by Hamlet in her bedroom – shortly before Polonius gets his extremely dramatic comeuppance… – that all this repression explodes; that we see her for what she really is. This is a masterclass in nuance; and I am therefore eagerly looking forward to Joanne, the “one woman show” she will be appearing in as part of this summer’s Making Mischief festival. Even amongst a cast of such rich, deep talent, she is magnificent.

As I said above, Cyril Nri’s Polonius is also almost beyond perfection. All that surface guff conceals a highly political – yet, I felt, a desperately lonely, longing – old man. Were it not for Essiedu and Moodie, he would have been my performer of the night (although this was a fiercely-fought competition: with no losers to speak of…). His constant nervousness and desire to please those in power are never over-egged. What can be a one-dimensional rôle becomes richly fascinating in all its flaws.

Theo Ogundipe – as in Cymbeline – brings a canny gravitas to each of his characters. A worried Marcellus, he conjures – with Golding’s Barnardo – the Ghost’s initial visibility with mere words. As player Lucianus, he overacts appealingly (and appallingly), as he should. But, as Fortinbras, he commands the stage in the dying lines with simple presence.

Natalie Simpson (Ophelia) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

There there is the sublime Natalie Simpson. Even after witnessing the ethereal Pippa Nixon as Ophelia, in David Farr’s intriguing 2013 production, Simpson still somehow manages to make this rôle her own. So sprightly in Cymbeline, her heart-rivening doom, here, seems inevitable, unstoppable. And yet we still do not know whether her death is intentional….

Clarence Smith is a real piece of work as Claudius… – and yet I really did like him (well, as much as you can any charming tyrant)! There was a moment, early on, where he stood in the very centre of the stage, and the whole theatre belonged to him. His self-belief wanes so gently, so subtly, though, that it is almost shocking when he kneels before the cross, and we see the doubt written plainly across his pleading face. As with all the cast, power and subtlety are keenly weighted and balanced. He is the match of both Essiedu and Moodie; his power never quite as certain as he desires… – we see his self-awareness fleetingly… – yet he will make the most of it whilst he still can: bullying those who he needs to fulfil his sovereignty.

Despite his charming grin as the Gravedigger, and his ripe demonstrations of wit, Ewart James Walters is absolutely terrifying as the Ghost of Old Hamlet. (I was forced back into my seat so hard by his first appearance.) Such a great voice; and charisma by the bucketful. You would not want to meet him on a dark night, patrolling the ramparts of Elsinore, that is for certain.

And, finally, Temi Wilkey – and that great smile – playing, again, a multitude of parts (Francisca, a Player, and the Gravedigger’s Assistant). Versatile in the extreme; and yet another demonstration that giving small parts to great actors pays dividends in the quality stakes.

Paapa Essiedu (Hamlet) – photo by Manuel Harlan/RSC

That the creative team is the equal of those on stage just goes to show how superior this production really is. Sola Akingbola’s awesome percussive soundtrack (directed by Bruce O’Neil, the RSC’s Head of Music) plays as fundamental a part as any of the actors; and his representation of the (as yet invisible to us) ghost is spine-shiveringly atmospheric. Paul Anderson’s lighting is also outstanding – but it is Paul Wills’ imaginative design, and Simon Godwin’s intelligent direction, that generate the audacious, cohesive and fascinating, gripping, universe in which the action takes place.

A hit, a very palpable hit.