Recently, I was lucky enough to be selected to go and watch 'Hamlet' at The Almeida Theatre, where it has sold out its entire run. I hadn't read the play before and enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would, with the story being so compelling for all 3 hours and 45 minutes of it. The production had Andrew Scott playing the title role, who was phenomenal at portraying the journey of the character and the direction by Robert Icke was remarkable.The multimedia element to this production really enhanced the piece. There were many fantastic moments in the play because of this. For example, there was a transition with lots of police bursting into the room using torches to build up tension and excitement in the room. There were also television screens placed around the theatre to play news broadcasts and a live stream of certain character close-ups, during the 'play' Hamlet puts on. This was brilliant at showing us reactions to situations happening on stage and putting the performance into a modern context. Also, surveillance cameras projecting videos onto a giant screen showed us action that was happening offstage. This made the ghost scenes more believable and gave more depth to the piece. These cameras, lights and other uses of multimedia would not have been available during Elizabethan times, resulting in performances being a bit tamer and feeling slower with less things to focus in on.
Twelfth NightI was a bit reluctant to see this production of Twelfth Night at the National as I hadn't seen much Shakespeare before and find it hard to focus for long periods of time. However, I really enjoyed it and the time flew by without me noticing. The set was quite spectacular, with a giant revolving staircase to make transitions move smoothly and quickly. There was lots of music and bright neon lights for scenes such as the ones in the bar and party. The big twist on this production was that it was gender fluid, looking at issues in modern day society that were still around during Elizabethan times. When Shakespeare was first performed, males were acting in the productions as women were not allowed to perform. Tamsin Grieg portrayed the character of Malvolia, which is written as a man. This showed the advancement of equality between the sexes in current times, even though there is still a long way to go. Interpreting this gender fluid concept made the piece very current.
Brit Productions
Over the 3 years I have spent at BRIT, I have had the opportunity to see a variety of Shakespeare shows put on by year 12 theatre students. In previous years, I was able to see an all female cast perform Titus Andronicus and a version of Much Ado About Nothing set in the middle east. They both looked at current and modern issues that are around today. This years three productions are Richard III, Measure For Measure, Hamlet and Macbeth. They all had twists on them to make them more suitable and interesting for modern audiences. Richard III was set in Donald Trump's America, Measure For Measure looked at 1980's acid house raves, Hamlet focused on mental health and musicians who have committed suicide and Macbeth was an all female cast inspired by Pussy Riot.
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