HAMLET [2015]

 

Maxine Peake's HAMLET was praised to the statosphere when it stormed the box office for the stage performance.  Such hyperbole can be a little hard to live up to so I was cautiously optimistic when I popped in the DVD of the filmed performance (I was never lucky enough to see it live on stage).  While I do feel that the entire production was excellent, I can't help but feeling just a little underwhelmed by what I saw on the DVD.  Maxine Peake was excellent as Hamlet (with one exception which I'll come to later on) with John Shrapnel (as Claudius), Gillian Bevan (as the now female Polonia) and

Claire Benedict (as the Player King) particularly superb as well.  Katie West as Ophelia seemed not to make as much as an impact as her character usually does despite West's fine performance; I suspect maybe some of her lines or scenes may have been excised.  "The Mousetrap" scene by the roving players, which can often be a slog, was here excellently mounted in an exciting way.  Maybe it was too absorbing as Claudius' cry of "Give me some light!" was something of an anti-climax.  I also found very interesting the use of piles of assorted clothes to represent the dirt of the gravesite for the burial scene; indeed, even Yorick's skull was represented by a craftily-knotted sweater which approximated the shape of a skull.  All in all, quite a superb production.

Now, my (very) slight disappointment does not mean I was let down.  As I said, I thought the whole production was excellent.  There is only one problem I had and no other review of the DVD I've seen has mentioned it.  It seemed to me that Maxine Peake had a cold when this performance was recorded. 
I have no idea if this is true but her voice is terribly hoarse throughout; ranging from very hoarse to extremely hoarse such that, instead of finding myself absorbed in the play and the performances I was instead waiting for her voice to give out any second.  Peake's voice was also very thick and congested-sounding so that many lines were not as clear as they could be.  She can be seen wiping her nose often and seemed . . . well quite snotty and sniffy, I have to say.  Now this is a terrible shame because, if it is true that she was sick when this performance was recorded, it doesn't really document her "actual" performance in the role of Hamlet.  And yes, this would be a shame because her performance here on the dvd is nearly magnificent . . . if it wasn't for her seemingly congested and hoarse voice.  Everything else about Peake's performance is top notch and she brings many nice touches to the role including genuinely funny humour, a great command of the role and new angles to the "mad" scenes.  It's just that I feel her performance would have been titanic if not for her voice.  I've seen some reviews that call her performance on this dvd "shouty" and it's true; however, I think if she actually was sick then she had little choice but to shout many of her lines or else risk her voice totally giving out on her.  As I've said, I have no idea the facts of her health when this dvd performance was recorded but it's the only explanation I have for how Peake's voice sounded here.  And if she indeed had a cold or something like it, then we are not really seeing her true performance on this dvd.  And that's a shame.  Because Peake shows many flashes of brilliance which may indicate what her stage performance was truly like at the height of her powers.  And Maxine Peake's powers as Hamlet are way up there.