I can think of no show more fitting to end our trip on than Hamlet. One of Shakespeare’s best and most famous works, being performed in the town where he was born and lived. Hamlet is my personal favorite of Shakespeare’s tragedies and may even be my favorite of all of his plays. However, I was decently skeptical before seeing Hamlet, because it was not just Hamlet, but rather Hamlet Hail to the Thief, a show combining Hamlet with Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief album.
I cannot call myself a fan of Radiohead. The only time I have ever heard their music was when someone else chose to play it, and even then, it has only been their big hits. While I had meant to listen to the album before seeing the show, but I never got around to doing that, so I went in decently blind. I was worried that the music would clash with the performance, that it would feel forced, however, that did not end up being the case.
Instead, the music worked to enhance the show, helping to tell the story through performance art dance that complemented Hamlet wonderfully. The music was often eerie and unnerving, and the dance was too, often being jittery and unnatural, elevating the feeling of paranoia and uncertainty present throughout the play. The characters seemed to almost be in a trance-like state while moving across the stage, as if the music itself possessed them.
However, good dancing itself can’t make a show good on its own, all the other elements need to be working together to bring it to life. Luckily, that was the case. The music was live, and thus there was a whole band, not the real Radiohead though, playing. My seat gave me a good view of the two guitarists, who I often found myself watching. They swapped through multiple guitars throughout the performance and played them all excellently. All of the musicians were at the top of their game. The main issue I found was that I was often unable to understand the lyrics due to all the noise, however, that did not impact my enjoyment, as the singing itself was often quite haunting, and even without understandable words was very effective.
The acting was also great. The actor who played Hamlet did a wonderful job. He did a great job showing Hamlet’s youth and innocence, which faded away as he slips down into madness. All of the actors were great, but another I want to talk about is Claudius. He felt very imposing, his presence dominating every scene he was in, and I loved every scene he was in.
The design elements were also great. Almost everything was black and white, with most characters wearing all black, or just a little bit of white. This made a wonderful contrast, for Ophelia wore a white dress in the scene where she drowned herself, making her stand out among the darkness. Another glimpse of color was Claudius’s blood after he was stabbed. The red standing out as the only color in a monochrome scene.
One of the most surprising things about the show was its length. It only ran for around an hour and a half. I kept expecting an intermission, yet it never came. The short length worked wonderfully though, I think that if they tried to drag out the musical elements for too long, it would become tired. Instead, though, they presented a show that felt satisfying, not overstaying its welcome, which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience the entire time.
-Jack Duncan
Theatre in London U of A 