Review: Hamlet, The Wardrobe Theatre – ‘A flawed but original production with spellbinding moments’

I’m torn. Shivam Pallana is an articulate, entrancing Hamlet, whose thought processes are a pleasure to watch. But he is also disengaged from his character’s emotions at crucial moments, and greatly let down by his final monologue.

Starting curled up at the back of stage in an over-the-top agony, first impressions are not promising. Initial melodrama gives way to a flatness, especially upon discovering of his father’s murder, where the actor doesn’t seem to connect to his character’s emotions.

But once the first scenes are out of the way, the performance improves significantly. Now there emerges a wonderfully intelligent Prince, portrayed with a speed of thought and laser-sharp line reading that lifts his performance above the rest. Pallana does not over-emote. He speaks the lines fast, letting the language convey his thoughts and feelings, and the result is a spellbinding display of verse speaking.

BOVTS Directors’ Festival, Hamlet, directed by Yuxuan Liu and designed by Fiona McKeon – photo: Craig Fuller

He is also an unnerving Hamlet. This is a general strength of director Yuxuan Liu’s production: it makes me think of these familiar characters in ways that I hadn’t yet considered. I have seen Princes where their ‘madness’ is confusing or unconvincing, where it is unclear why the other characters consider him insane. Here, it is plain.

Hamlet is unnerving, unhinged, the sort of man one might see in the street talking to himself, where the risk is that one never knows what he’s going to do next – and if it will be dangerous.

The audience can trust him to an extent because we are given insight into his motivations and the thoughts turning around in that mighty brain. But for the other characters, he is unpredictable – and that makes him a threat. And when Hamlet starts acting violently, the audience’s trust dissipates too.

Hamlet – photo: Craig Fuller

Driving Hamlet on is the ghost of his dead father, whose murder he seeks to avenge. Here again is a character cast afresh, bringing to the play an angle I have never seen before. Taylor Uttley’s Ghost is a self-obsessed, whining figure, too caught up in his own sense of injustice to see or care about the effect he has on his son.

Bitterly describing the circumstances of his murder by his own brother, now king in his place, the Ghost demands that Hamlet reaps revenge. In his self-pity, he gives no sense that he thinks of his son’s feelings when he imparts to him this horrible knowledge, and even more horrible task. In this light, his final cry of ‘Remember me’ strikes me anew. It is manipulation.

Uttley doubles as a playful, energetic Laertes, full of the confidence of a young man set to travel the world. He has an enjoyable rapport with sister Ophelia (Yazmin Kayani), which provides some light moments in an often solemn production. When he returns at the end of the play, bereft by two losses, he is a changed man. Measured in speech, but deep with anger, he now has a mission in life where once he was carefree.

Hamlet – photo: Craig Fuller

The other performances in the play are mixed. Kayani’s Ophelia is engaging and outspoken in a way that is enjoyable to watch, but bears no relation to the girl with ‘no voice’ described in the blurb. Indeed, she speaks lines that were originally scripted for Polonius.

Her final speech is well-played: resolutely flat; the speech of a woman who is determined to show herself masculine to the very end. Yet when Hamlet cruelly spurns her in the middle of the play, she too is disengaged from her emotions, seeming more mildly bewildered than genuinely upset.

Alexander Uzoka as Claudius and Polonius puts in a weak performance that lacks stage presence. He has some amusing moments as the elderly Polonius, but the portrayal is a little clumsy, a little hamfisted, and the humour sometimes distracts from key moments. As Claudius he is forgettable, though his prayer to God over what he has done is heartfelt.

Hamlet – photo: Craig Fuller

Director Yuxuan Liu has managed the impressive feat of cutting this four-hour play to a quarter of its length, while still telling the story with clarity, drama and some depth. Yet the time imperative (not of his own making) impacts negatively in the more stylised moments.

The deaths are presented with good use of shadows, cold lighting and freezes. They contain the seeds of good theatre, but they are executed far too quickly. The result is a sense that a gesture towards stylisation has been made, but without the commitment to pull it off.

Credit must be given for the set and costumes of this production, which are both brilliantly designed and realised. Upstage, a cat’s cradle of red rope is set against a dusty black backdrop. The actors are uniformly dressed in muted brown clothes with truly beautiful weighted trousers, and jackets are put on to denote characters. The result is a subtle, attractive set that gives a sense of darkness and excitement, and is an excellent canvas on which to paint this original, if flawed, production of Hamlet.

Hamlet runs as part of the Bristol Directors Festival 2022, taking place at The Wardrobe Theatre on May 5-7 and 12-14 at 7.30pm, with some 2.30pm matinee shows. Tickets are available per double bill, or for the whole festival, from www.bristololdvic.org.uk, where you can find full details about each of the plays being staged.

Main photo: Craig Fuller

Read more: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School presents its 16th annual Directors’ Festival

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