Hamlet by William Shakespeare

 Hamlet by William Shakespeare


 

Thousands of books and millions of articles and reviews have been written on the subject. This is just a personal note. I have seen or listened to the play a few times: the production of Kenneth Brannagh was sumptuous; I think he even made it on the cover of TIME with his renditions of Shakespeare’s major plays. Perhaps the Laurence Olivier was better acclaimed by the critics. I have seen interpretations of Romanian actors- Ion Caramitru did not strike me as the best possible Hamlet to come on stage in my country- I wish I could have seen a Hamlet with George Constantin, in my view the greatest actor we have ever had, by a long shot. However, there is a production of a Shakespeare, with Andrei Serban as director and a fabulous Gheorghe Dinica which was outstanding and marvelous. It was one of the comedies; I can’t remember which- maybe The Twelfth Night.

What I have listened to the other day is an interpretation of Hamlet by Richard Burton. And it was a treat. Richard Burton had one of the most beautiful, manly and deep voices I had the chance to hear.

The other voice I like so much was of a Romanian actor, in the same mould, but lesser known than Burton- George Constantin.

I have read that Burton was famous, apart from his on and off relationship and marriage to Elisabeth Taylor, for heavy drinking. One of his drinking buddies was Peter O’Toole. With whom he starred in Beckett, a wonderful film and acting performance, from both lead men.

Hamlet has revealed in the latest version I listened to humorous aspects I did not notice or simply forgot: Hamlet is sent to England for being crazy…but over there they would not notice it is all right- they’re all off their rocker.

The urgency with which they organize the wedding with the funeral, to save costs makes for some good black humor.

The way Hamlet addresses various people or issues appears humorous, at least in the interpretation of Sir Richard Burton and maybe with the help of the laughter in the audience, for this was a recording made in the theater, during a live performance.

Hamlet is of course a play full of deep messages, questions regarding life, death, morality, love and much more. The admiration for man “what a piece of work” is accompanied by some heavy sentencing – “frailty thy name is woman”

When I was a very young man, I took the wrong parts for remembrance and kept thinking frailty thy name is… instead of looking at the “positive” side.

I fell in admiration of women and became quite soon the “frail” one myself.

Hamlet is a tragic character who has marked me as well as millions of other men and women.

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