A solid, if not superlative, mounting of Shaky's greatest sees a largely unknown (to me, at least, i must admit) cast headed by Blake's 7 legend Gareth Thomas as a more sympathetic than usual King Claudius.
This is the fifth full-length production of The Dane that i have seen (after Olivier, Jacobi in the BBC version, Gibson for Zeffirelli, and of course Branagh's colossus), and although filmed on an obvious low budget - the film stock looked like digital video to me, perhaps indicating that cheaper technology means that we will see more productions in future that would otherwise go unfilmed - it certainly passes muster. The cast, as well as costumes and props, are apparently from an RSC production, and obviously are comfortably settled into their roles giving relaxed yet nuanced performances. William Houston as a credible and able Hamlet (i had to laugh despite myself at a previous poster giving him plaudits despite the 'handicap' of being ginger! Isn't that racist nowadays?:) ), especially good in his watchful observation and goading of Claudius in The Mousetrap scene.
Lucy Cockram i notice has no further IMDb credits to her name - a crying shame as far as i'm concerned, as she gives a very good performance as Ophelia, beautiful yet vulnerable, and heartbreaking in her scenes of madness towards the end. The only distraction, apart from the film stock, slight claustrophobic feel of the restricted locations and sets, bizarre video effects that badly vitiate the tension of the ghost scenes and hamper rather than accentuate Iain Cuthbertson's performance, and an Osric reminiscent of Graham Duff from "Ideal", was that Polonius strongly reminded me of the hilarious afterlife-denying professor Chaunticleer Guardsley from TV's "The Day Today". Checking the actor's IMDb credits however was fruitless in this quest. Perhaps like the prince himself i am mad.
This is the fifth full-length production of The Dane that i have seen (after Olivier, Jacobi in the BBC version, Gibson for Zeffirelli, and of course Branagh's colossus), and although filmed on an obvious low budget - the film stock looked like digital video to me, perhaps indicating that cheaper technology means that we will see more productions in future that would otherwise go unfilmed - it certainly passes muster. The cast, as well as costumes and props, are apparently from an RSC production, and obviously are comfortably settled into their roles giving relaxed yet nuanced performances. William Houston as a credible and able Hamlet (i had to laugh despite myself at a previous poster giving him plaudits despite the 'handicap' of being ginger! Isn't that racist nowadays?:) ), especially good in his watchful observation and goading of Claudius in The Mousetrap scene.
Lucy Cockram i notice has no further IMDb credits to her name - a crying shame as far as i'm concerned, as she gives a very good performance as Ophelia, beautiful yet vulnerable, and heartbreaking in her scenes of madness towards the end. The only distraction, apart from the film stock, slight claustrophobic feel of the restricted locations and sets, bizarre video effects that badly vitiate the tension of the ghost scenes and hamper rather than accentuate Iain Cuthbertson's performance, and an Osric reminiscent of Graham Duff from "Ideal", was that Polonius strongly reminded me of the hilarious afterlife-denying professor Chaunticleer Guardsley from TV's "The Day Today". Checking the actor's IMDb credits however was fruitless in this quest. Perhaps like the prince himself i am mad.