the hamlet thread

i am 64 and began library number 3 in 2004. i have no shakespeare in it yet, but hamlet is in line. i really do not care if it is on stage or page or even in badinage amongst us bardites (to coin a word), if it is hamlet i want to hear it.

this one play of his has captured my lifelong interest. I first read it as part of Ms. Magee's english class at good old Chestertown (New York) Central. Then again at Daytona Beach Community college. Meanwhile, I'd seen it performed in film by Olivier and thought he did the best job ever. Until Mel Gibson's triumph. If I had to spend eternity watching just one performance of one play it would be Mel's Hamlet. I don't care what he says when he's drunk, and I don't care if he is a flaming active alcoholic, Gibson is the most talented actor to come along this past century. His ability to portray and communicate madness is unbeatable! For a rather long and detailed paper on Hamlet's "problem," please go to www.andyray.net and click on page 9. the paper is the third one down after hemingway and plath.

love to hear anyone's comments about the "young" hamlet, polonious, laertes, the fair ophelia, gertrude, claudius, the ghost, or rosenkrantz and guildenstern.

We have severalvideo/DVD films of Hamlet (including the Mel Gibson one). The BBC Hamlet, with Derek Jacobi is by far the best Hamlet performance I have seen. Helena-Boham Carter, as Ophelia, in the Mel Gibson Hamlet and Kate Winslet, as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet tie for the best Ophelia performance. Derek Jacobi's Claudius, in Kenneth Branagh'x version, is the best interpretation.

I'll second Naren559 on Derek Jacobi's performance being by far one of the best. The man is a master.

I saw Adrian Lester perform Hamlet in Peter Brook's production at Chicago Shakespeare several years ago and it was a blistering, charismatic performance.

If all goes well, I'll be seeing David Tennant perform Hamlet at The Royal Shakespeare Company in October 2008.

I recently bought the new Arden version and it's a excellent source for a deeper understanding and exposure to the different quartos and the Folio. I usually prefer reading the Applause versions because they are in Folio, but I highly recommend the Arden one for research.

Kevin Kline played a Hamlet with a difference--set in modern day. I thought he was excellent, but some of the supporting players were weak.

Roger Rhys was pretty bad (Barbicon, 1985). And I also saw Tom Hulce (yes, Tom Hulce of Amadeus fame) play the role in Washington--also pretty dreadful.

I would have loved to have seen Ben Kingsley's performance, back in the '70s.

So far, I have found Clare Kinney's analysis of Hamlet to be the best. She is a professor of English at the University of Virginia and has a lecture series ("Shakespeare's Tragedies") DVDs at the Teaching Company.
(Teach12.com).