Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Richard Cheshire
It’s summer in Stafford, and that means it must be time for the annual Stafford Shakespeare at the Gatehouse.
This is the third production since the festival was forced indoors from its former home at Stafford Castle, and expectations are high for what has been billed as “the most spectacular Stafford Shakespeare production in years”. An ambitious claim, but does the production live up to it?
Regulars at the event will remember last year’s stunning Cornish village set for Twelfth Night and the lush forest greenery and Greek taverna for Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2023. By contrast, for this year’s Hamlet designer Patrick Connellan and director Richard Cheshire have created a production that is far more traditional, a monochrome decaying library set which serves as the backdrop for the entire piece. It’s in keeping with the play – this is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies after all – but so far nothing to make the audience go, as Cheshire wants, “wow!”. Mind you, the choice of a library for the set creates some interesting staging – you’ve probably never seen Hamlet’s famous soliloquy delivered from the top of a ladder before – but it serves its purpose and the moveable bookcases allow for variations in the staging and for characters to be revealed or hidden when required.
Still, as Shakespeare says, the play’s the thing so we should look beyond the set for the impact.
This heavily-abridged version of Hamlet opens not on the battlements but at old Hamlet’s funeral. This helps to set the scene before we move on to the traditional opening, and it comes complete with the music that we all expect to find at the Gatehouse – in this case The Last Post played on violin by Lucinda Freeburn, who appears from time to time to play for us in addition to her role as Guildenstern. As always, the music (Lucas Elliott) adds to the atmosphere and creates impact when it’s hardly noticeable.
Benedict Shaw leads the cast in the title role. This is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic roles, and a challenge for everyone who takes on this role is how to make it your own – there’s been a number of very memorable performances in the last few years. Shaw’s performance here stays firmly on the side of the traditional, giving us something that’s competent rather than outstanding, though it does sometimes get a bit shouty in its delivery. To be fair, this is not a fault that’s Shaw’s alone but it seems to be an ongoing issue with the production and with a number of the cast. For one of Shakespeare’s most introspective plays, it doesn’t always seem appropriate.
Sean O’Callaghan’s Claudius genuinely seems to want to care for Hamlet initially, before turning against him, while Llinos Daniel gives us a loving but scared Gertrude. Matthew Khan’s Laertes is affectionate and caring towards his sister Ophelia, who’s given a shy and withdrawn take by Amy Tara, with Sean McKenzie as a fatherly Polonius. As often is the case, stealing the scene we have the clowns, our gravediggers (McKenzie again, and Sam Jones) who bring one of the few moments of lightness into what’s otherwise a downbeat production.
Therein lies one of the difficulties – and it’s partly down to the edit, and partly the direction. Some opportunities for comedy have been removed, and others missed and so there’s precious little in the way of light and shade here to break up the action. Neither do we get the underlying feeling of threat – this is a country on the brink of war after all – and when Fortinbras arrives with his troops at the end, it jolts you back to that storyline quite abruptly.
It’s a competent production, but nothing groundbreaking and a disappointment after the last couple of years.
Runs until 5 July 2025
