Review: Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic – ‘Taut, claustrophobic, and visually stunning’

“Must I remember?” ponders Billy Howle as the dejected and grief-stricken Hamlet, in one of the many soliloquies that characterise Shakespeare’s famous revenge tragedy.

He stands before us, and before himself, replaying fragments of his own words on a voice recorder, increasingly unstable and unsure of his reality; no longer held up by the supportive framework of family and friends that is seemingly fracturing before his very eyes.

Though this production of Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic still stands at over three hours in length, John Haidar’s direction is pacey from the outset, and plays like a psychological thriller.

Taheen Modak and Billy Howle in Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic – photo: Marc Brenner

Haidar has spoken about the mythology surrounding plays that have been performed time and again, across – in this case – centuries. Working from three folios of the text, he hasn’t been shy in making cuts, or occasionally putting the words of characters into the mouths of others, maximising the impact of the Hamlet that he wanted to tell.

And that version is as jet black as – we imagine – the paranoia-filled mind of Hamlet, beset by ghostly apparitions, shadows and emotional projections.

It’s a spectacularly claustrophobic watch, dominated by Alex Eales’ stunningly designed, tardice-like revolving world of towering, impermeable walls, Escher-like staircases and movable spaces that, at times, are visibly closing in on Hamlet.

The cast of Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic (2022) – photo: Marc Brenner

Howle brings huge intensity and a wildness to the character of Hamlet, who by degrees, becomes more and more divorced from his sense of self.

Real life husband and wife, Finbar Lynch as Claudius and Niamh Cusack as Gertrude, are well cast in a pairing that suggests that for all Claudius’s power grabbing and murderous instincts, underpinning it, there is a genuine love for his stolen queen.

Mirren Mack is a feisty Ophelia; no shrinking violets here. And there are impressive performances across the board, from Jason Barnett’s Polonius, who gets most of the funny lines – such as there are – to Isabel Adomakoh Young as Horatio.

Mirren Mack as Ophelia in Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic – photo: Marc Brenner

Haidar’s trope of recording and replaying fragments of sound and video, of ‘making real’ by bringing a personal experience outside oneself, lends the production a contemporary resonance that is, for the most part, very effective.

Malcolm Rippeth’s scarce but hugely impactful lighting and Max Pappenheim’s eerie, low and rumbling soundscape also have a wonderful synergy. For me, Jack Phelan’s video projections are most impactful when they more subtle; Ophelia’s hands in the water were all I needed to convey the drama that followed. But that said, it is entirely right that the atmosphere is shown to visibly envelop the characters, as one by one, they fall prey to the decay that besets Elsinore.

As the voice of Hamlet’s father – rather human sounding in the first half – becomes echoey in the second, we see that for the first time Hamlet can see the ghost while others cannot. This coincides with the stage becoming more lit, as if Hamlet’s perceived madness is apparent to all now, and the gulf between him and everyone else has widened to a point beyond repair.

Finbar Lynch as Claudius and Taheen Modak in Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic – – photo: Marc Brenner

Ultimately, Haidar is perhaps also intending to show that denouncing behaviour as “mere madness” is an easy and corrosive way to dismiss human emotion.

Hamlet may be long, but it rattles along, and truly, I didn’t really notice until checking the time afterwards. While it offers something new for those familiar with the play, I really hope it attracts many of those who aren’t, too.

It’s a taut, towering, gut punch of a play, very well told.

Hamlet (age recommendation 12+) is at Bristol Old Vic from October 13-November 12 at 7.30pm, with 2pm matinee shows on Thursday and Saturday. The show will also be live broadcast on November 10 & 11 as part of Bristol Old Vic on Screen. Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.

Read more: Setting the stage for Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic

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