reviewed by ES
As I walked to my seat at the National Theatre Conservatory's production of Hamlet, Prince of Darkness, I felt as if were going to a horror movie. Three dead bodies lay on stage. Horatio (played by Kelli Crump) stood there frozen as ice holding a flash light pointed at the ground. A story of Hamlets revenge on his father the king, who was killed by his own brother, who moved on to marry the queen was slowly revealed.
Hamlet was played by four people, Sean Lyons, Rebecca Martin, M. Scott McLean and Jenna Panther. Unfortunately Jenna Panther had to leave and be replaced by an uncredited actor. The transitions between Hamlets did not make a lot of sense to me. The new Hamlet would come on and they would both start to shake and convulse as if going through immense pain, then the original Hamlet would leave.
The lighting (done by Robert Byers) was some of the best I've seen. At times you could only see someones face or the gleam of their helmet, and at others lights would flash and you would get a brief glimpse of what was going on. At one point the pillars on either side of the stage began to glow and men could be seen inside them spying on Hamlet and Ophelia.
I thought all of the acting was amazing. I don't think there was a bad actor in the entire play. A lot of the time I could not understand what they were saying because old English is harder for me to understand, but by their emotions and expressions I was able to understand most of it. It seems like it might not be the best play for people who don't know the basic story of Hamlet.
The first Hamlet (played by Sean Lyons) did an amazing job pouring his emotion into the play. He turned small problems into dramatic issues. Ophelia (played by Dawn Scott) did a great job adding low trapeze into the play. At multiple points a swing would come down and without interrupting the plot she manoeuvred around the swing. I am not the biggest fan of Shakespeare but it was one of the best versions I have seen of Hamlet.
Hamlet was played by four people, Sean Lyons, Rebecca Martin, M. Scott McLean and Jenna Panther. Unfortunately Jenna Panther had to leave and be replaced by an uncredited actor. The transitions between Hamlets did not make a lot of sense to me. The new Hamlet would come on and they would both start to shake and convulse as if going through immense pain, then the original Hamlet would leave.
The lighting (done by Robert Byers) was some of the best I've seen. At times you could only see someones face or the gleam of their helmet, and at others lights would flash and you would get a brief glimpse of what was going on. At one point the pillars on either side of the stage began to glow and men could be seen inside them spying on Hamlet and Ophelia.
I thought all of the acting was amazing. I don't think there was a bad actor in the entire play. A lot of the time I could not understand what they were saying because old English is harder for me to understand, but by their emotions and expressions I was able to understand most of it. It seems like it might not be the best play for people who don't know the basic story of Hamlet.
The first Hamlet (played by Sean Lyons) did an amazing job pouring his emotion into the play. He turned small problems into dramatic issues. Ophelia (played by Dawn Scott) did a great job adding low trapeze into the play. At multiple points a swing would come down and without interrupting the plot she manoeuvred around the swing. I am not the biggest fan of Shakespeare but it was one of the best versions I have seen of Hamlet.
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