Writer: William Shakespeare
Adaptor: Jude Christian
Director: Ellie Hurt
It’s a little strange being invited to witness the National Theatre in your hometown, especially when it’s not in a theatre, but a large school drama studio, but this is no normal production. This is a new adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s hardest, multi-layered plays, which has been specifically designed for Key Stage 2 pupils – and is touring schools across the country for the next two months.
At 9:30 am on a cold winter’s morning in Knowsley – the cast of Hamlet, brace themselves as excited and very chatty children are positioned around the large imposing green screens and checkerboard floor space (designed by Frankie Bradshaw), creating a makeshift, deep thrust stage. Here the strong cast of 8 delivers a high-energy, engaging, and truly captivating hour of theatre.
What instantly strikes, during the hour, is how clear Jude Christian’s adaptation is, they manage to condense Shakespeare’s epic narrative into a bite-size and pleasurable experience – gone are the long impenetrable soliloquies, and dragged-out exposition and incomes, fast-paced, clever cuts of text, which still hold the story and the important elements firmly intact. Paired with Ellie Hurt’s simple, but inventive staging (which never takes itself too seriously) you can’t help but be swept along with this tale of treachery, deception, and ultimately sacrifice. Songs punctuate the darkness, waterphones bring an aural ethereal atmosphere to proceedings and, audience participation keeps young minds focused – this reviewer was totally captivated by the use of puppetry, which is excellently used.
Recent drama school graduate Simeon Desvignes takes on the titular role, and he manages to balance the scheming downfall of Hamlet, with a lightness that is very rarely seen in the role, this understated performance being a particular highlight. Curtis Callier and Katherine Payne as the larger-than-life Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring plenty of comedy to the stage – also interesting to see that these are the roles where more “regional accents” are brought to the forefront. Monique Walker makes for a delightful Ophelia, while Annabelle Terry brings a cheeky presentation of Laertes to the stage. Ashley Gerlach and Claire Redcliffe have real gravitas as the scheming Claudius and put upon queen Gertrude, but the stand out performance comes from Adam Clifford’s Polonius – a portrayal which comedically plays on the typical “stuffiness” of the character, here Clifford never takes the role too seriously, and it’s a joy to watch.
It’s always exciting to watch Shakespeare become accessible to younger audiences, many companies fail to find the fun, the joy and the connection that is needed to keep this age group captivated, but Director Hurt, Adaptor Christian and the strong company manage to do that in spades – it’s just a shame that this production can’t be seen by every school in the country – perhaps this is what needs to be recorded for National Theatre Live, because this is a production that might just change people’s minds on the relevance of Shakespeare.
Continues on tour in schools until March then at the National from 20-28 March 2023
