#gregory doran

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

Have you seen Hamlet (2009)?

Yes

No

Haven’t even heard of this movie

Voting ended onJan 30

[olympain]

I think that might have been a licensing issue, a sense that DC Comics might not allow the Royal Shakespeare Company to do that. But also I think Greg has a sort of radar for how things might slightly overwhelm. He was worried it would become the Superman Hamlet, that critics looking for a sort of lazy headline might slap that over it if it was too obvious, if it was too iconic and recognisable.

[aq2003]

archive dive #5: hamlet (2008) - stage version

it's been my dream to see the stage version of this hamlet in some way shape or form and i'm so happy i got to do it. it's so fascinating to compare how david has portrayed the character early on in the run to the film version, seeing the original staging and getting a taste of how it was like watching it live. i think the look and feel of the production really shine, it has some super creative stuff going on that was unfortunately lost with the medium/the shoestring budget of the film version so i'm so glad i got to see this! there will always be a special place in my heart for hamlet, it was the first shakespeare play that i fell in love with, it was the first one i went back and made notes on, and doing that basically catapulted me to where i am now (full shakspeare hyperfixation). and this production is really special to me too; obviously david tennant is my One Perfect Hamlet, but it's not just him, nearly every single member of this cast has remained my favorite version of the character even after watching so many others. rsc hamlet 2008-2009, my beloved, i will love you forever <3

prev / archive dive tag

this was one of the few recordings that also had a prompt book that i could look at alongside it (i asked for it when booking the appointment). and i got to see what i think are greg doran's notes! this is the only prompt book that had notes scribbled on the backs of the pages, and some of the observations are things ik greg has specifically talked about before like the cold biting air being an establishing element of the setting

at the beginning there's a note saying "the genius of hamlet consists, perhaps, in the fact that the play can serve as a mirror. an ideal hamlet would be one most true to shakespeare and most modern at the same time. costumes do not matter. what matters is that through shakespeare’s test we ought to get at our modern experience, anxiety, and sensibility"

so true bestie. greg doran loves his mirror symbolism and i thank him every day for it

the lighting!! is so good!!! when the play opens it’s almost pitch black, lit only by the flashlights, it’s genuinely a bit unsettling and i love it. i have never been more jealous of the people in the audience etc etc

it's in the film version but i never noticed it until i watched this: i love gertrude's dress in 1.2. i love how it spills onto the ground. it's very royal and elegant and it tickles my brain (alsp the color grading in the film version is very desaturated so in this recording the blue of her dress sticks out more, esp againt the pitch black mirrored stage)

the way gertrude speaks to hamlet in 1.2 feels less gentle and more scolding, like she's a bit more fed up with hamlet's grieving already. and it contrasts really well with hamlet being more of a fragile mess

the too too solid flesh soliloquy works soooooo well on stage. it's like. it's such a raw display of emotion, hamlet is curled up in a ball and sobbing and he wants to be left alone, but he's still being watched. and there are no security camera shots interspersed to convey that here but you still get that feeling from all three sides of the stage being surrounded by an audience and the back of the stage being a mirror. there's nowhere he can hide and that adds a whole other Layer to it

tbh if i was shooting the film version i would film it similar to the angle in the archive recording, i.e. from the side and swamped in the set of the castle (and then moving/cutting closer as he stands up). there's lots of moments in the stage version that do a really good job in conveying how small hamlet feels in this inhospitable prison-like elsinore

the line delivery on "no more like my father, than I, to......HERCULES" was so funny. i love it. hamlet racking his brain for a second for a figure that is the most impossibly different from him and landing on hercules. really good

i really like having an audience here to laugh at hamlet's jokes... like not to say hamlet is better with a laugh track BUT david's hamlet is really witty and funny and him having an audience to bounce off does a lot

ophelia really shows off the condoms in laertes' suitcase for everyone with eyes to see LMAO. i get that it's for the stage and you gotta be able to see what she's holding even in the seats furthest back but my god is the energy for that moment different dhhfjshwjsjdhw

the lighting for the fireworks is so good. mwah. also re: hamlet's lines ripping into claudius' drinking habits, it's very funny to see hamlet shivering + his voice wavering from the cold and squinting from the bright flashing lights of the fireworks and generally being a sad pathetic wet cat kicked down the stairs out into the cold, but still being really uppity about a royal's dignity and honor. a very hamlet thing for him to do tbh

hmmmmmg the way hamlet spreads out his arms when he says "i do not set my life at a pin's fee, and for my soul what can it do to that". feels like it's leaning into the interpretation of like. he is kind of setting his life at a pin's fee. he doesn't care about what the ghost could do to him

also the way hamlet tries to run after the ghost after he exits in 1.5, how the mirrored doors shut in his face and he collapses to the ground. this flows REALLY well into how the production rearranges the scenes, i.e. hamlet's next appearance after this being to be or not to be. there's a part of him that just wants to follow his father in death but now that he's been tasked with killing his uncle he can't do that. he has to make good on his promise. even though he doesn't really want to

really interesting note from the prompt book: the ghost never calls hamlet "son" (or addresses him by entirely familial terms. the closest he gets is saying "thy mother" in 3.4). definitely feeding into hamlet's insecurity and feelings of failure, a "he doesn't even think me worthy enough to be his son" kind of deal, i think

this version of to be or not to be is reallyyyy good. best way i can describe it is that hamlet feels very lost and alone. it's raw and vulnerable and sad. in the film version he whispers it and stares into your soul and makes you feel his exhaustion and horror but onstage he plays into hamlet being this exposed nerve, very close to just breaking down into sobs, feeling defeated and miserable and very much Needing A Hug But Not Getting One Because He's Supposed To Be Killing His Uncle Right Now

generally in this recording you see more of how hamlet reacts to things via his body language rather than his facial expressions (obviously), and what really struck me abt the beginning of the nunnery scene is that hamlet is still trying to soothe himself, he's kinda wrapped his arms around himself like he's still haunted by his thoughts of the afterlife and he wants the intimacy and safety that he used to have with ophelia but now because of everything that has happened he can't (and that feeds into his paranoia, him lashing out at her, etc)

ophelia is ANGRY in her soliloquy after the nunnery scene. i'm so sick and twisted

when polonius asks "what is the matter, my lord?" and hamlet says "between who?", he looks at the two opposite sides of the audience surrounding him. really nice touch

yeahhhh the rosencrantz/guildenstern scene works so well here. the funny suspicious awkward pauses!! (where the audience is also given time to laugh!!) they don't know how the fuck to respond to hamlet's prodding and it's hilarious!!

rosencrantz’s "well if you delight not in man" + talking about the players feels like a super awkward pivot from laughing at hamlet saying "man delights not me", this is how i imagined this bit when i was reading it for the first time so it was very nice to see

the table thing that hamlet stands on when reciting the lines from the aeneas speech creaks loudly every time he moves around (and he moves around a lot). on top of this being a good way to liven up this bit i just know the players think hamlet is so fucking annoying god bless

during the coward soliloquy hamlet keeps looking around at the audience wildly, like instead of fixing his gaze in one place he keeps moving around and he's filled with such a nervous energy and it is very "average college student who hasn't slept in a few days" vibes

when hamlet does his "hold a mirror up to nature" bit, he shines a light on the audience rather than the players!!

hamlet doesn't say the passion's slave speech to horatio up close to his face while he's doing his tie, yaoi stocks have fallen -500 pts. however when horatio says his "if he steal aught the whilst this play is playing and 'scape detecting, i will pay the theft" line he holds hamlet's hand and then hamlet grabs onto him back like he's so severely starved of touch and affection (because he is) and there's a hot 2 seconds where they just look into each other's eyes. yaoi stocks back up 500 pts

the "country matters" line is played as hamlet doing this crab-walky-hip-thrusting motion which is funny, but i do like the film version (ie hamlet chomping on ophelia's arm) better because i think the unhinged clinginess fits david's version of him better

the ghost in the dumbshow flies all the way up into the ceiling !! hamlet really put in the work for the mousetrap's special effects lkmgsdlkfflw

hamlet doesn't have his funny little camera! for either this scene or the eggshell soliloquy. i wonder if the camera was something that became a thing during the west end transfer or if it's smth exclusive to the film version (if it was the latter, it was probably a way of translating over the production's play-within-a-play elements into a "film-within-a-film")

you see it in the above image but hamlet takes out his pocketknife for the "when churchyards yawn" soliloquy! (because he doesn't have his funny little camera with him, it's played pretty differently). he flicks it open when he says "now may i drink hot blood", and holds it up when he says "i will speak daggers to [my mother]". ooooo very murderous very scary. and it works really well with the cut to the intermission on "now might i do it pat while he is praying", because it's more convincing to the audience that killing claudius is something hamlet could potentially do in that moment

when hamlet shoots polonius, the glass panes of the mirrored back wall "shatter" and the cracked glass stays there for the whole rest of the play!! i love it, it's such a good way to communicate this moment being this real point of no return for all of the characters

i think it might've been bc this was pretty early in his run, but david's portrayal of hamlet here is much less loud/wild/shouty than his film version. which isn't necessarily a bad thing; in moments it even enhances the portrayal—like lack of confidence in himself is hamlet's whole thing, and there are moments that feel more reined in and grounded. but the tradeoff is that imo hamlet's really important moments of genuine rage and frustration don't hit as hard, and you feel that the most in 3.4 (and in the nunnery scene, the coward soliloquy, ophelia's funeral, and claudius' death, but mostly 3.4).

hamlet's voice wavers and breaks when he said "for this same lord, i do repent", he actually feels bad for killing polonius here :(

note from the prompt book: "'damned fingers'—even tips of fingers are damned". Yeah... yeah

claudius is wearing a bathrobe in 4.3. hamlet is really doing all this at 2 am

as described in that one comment i saw from the person that watched this live: after hamlet is sent to england he stays in the audience! and in 4.4 he walks down the aisle and talks to the captain of the norwegian army while standing next to the front row seats

for the graveyard scene horatio is just kinda vibing on the ground while hamlet stands and talks to the skull. tbh i like it in the film version a lot better bc it's framed more as hamlet having an honest conversation with horatio rather than "oooo the yorick speech, take your photos now". even if said photos are so iconic..

gertrude turns to stare right at claudius before drinking from the poisoned cup, penny downie really was making sure the audience knew gertrude did all that on purpose

also the way gertrude sort of stumbles over to wipe hamlet's face as like a last gesture of affection bc she knows she's going to die??? and hamlet pushes her off bc he doesn't know anything is wrong??? help me ???? my feelings??????

fortinbras actually walks out on stage at the end of the play! horatio still has the final line of "flights of angels sing thee to thy rest", but we get to see the transfer of power in denmark in addition to horatio cradling hamlet in his arms as the final image of the play

anyway. the hamlet huh

[roseyourewearingablackdress]

apparently at the Greg Doran Shakespeare event David said Tony Baddingham is an Iago and I think I need to lie down

[storyofmorewhoa]

What are your thoughts on Hamlet???

First of all, I'm just going to say that I like Hamlet a lot.

However, to be honest, it is not a play I have extensively studied as much as I should. The only way I really know how to talk about it right now is by getting into my personal history with the play. To make this post easier to follow, I'm going to break it up into parts.

1. My First Impression of Hamlet: Zeffirelli and High School English

I read it for the first time when I was 16, and the impression that my Mercutio-oriented brain had made me see a lot of queer overtones.

Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet was my introduction to Shakespeare, so I greatly looked forward to seeing his 1990 adaptation of Hamlet. However, when I watched it I was incredibly confused.

In reading the play, I felt that the relationships between the young men-- Hamlet, Horatio, and Laertes-- was one of the play's strongest aspects. In the 1968 Romeo and Juliet, shots linger on Romeo, Mercutio, Tybalt, and Benvolio-- lovingly, as though there is far more to them and their relationships to each other below the surface of the play. This attention and care for seemingly superfluous male cannon fodder for the feud stuck with me.

However in Zeffirelli's 1990 Hamlet, shots of Laerets and Horatio feel rushed, and they do not seem intrinsically connected to the play's atmosphere of frustration, pain, and grief. When men hold each as they are dying, it feels likes poses obligated by the script and expected blocking rather than natural responses motivated by strong emotional connections between the characters. While the acting is solid, the lack of depth and nuance in the relationship between Hamlet, Horatio, and Laertes in the film really confused me because I felt that it was the heart of the text-- after all doesn't Hamlet say that he wears Horatio in his "heart's core"?

Additionally, my feelings about the text were not reinforced at all in English class. In class no one discussed the relationship between the three young men in Hamlet.

For the most part, the interpretations of Hamlet that I was seeing focused on the titular character's intelligence and grief, and seemed oblivious to the other characters. That made it difficult for me to empathize with him enough to get deeply invested in the play as a whole. With my early readings, I keenly felt that Hamlet should not want to be the Prince of Denmark. He would prefer to merely be a student at Wittenburg with Horatio. I felt that Hamlet was not really in love with Ophelia, and that there was a reason he did not mention her after the burial scene.

However, since my initial feelings about Hamlet were not validated by the discussions I was hearing in class, I thought that maybe I was imposing my own bias onto the text. The representation of Hamlet I was seeing was the "man of action" archetype-- which was hard for me to see and, as a result made it difficult for me to really care about the play. While my intuition told me that the dynamic between Hamlet and Horatio was related to the dynamic between Mercutio and Benvolio, it was something I never really discussed with anyone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. "Shakespeare, Zeffirelli and the Homosexual Gaze" by William van Watson

Years went by. One day I found a 1992 article called "Shakespeare, Zeffirelli and the Homosexual Gaze" by William van Watson. which points out that: 1) homoeroticism was very much a part of Elizabethan theater and 2) Zeffirelli's Hamlet suffered from the director's religiously imposed homophobia.

Although I disagree with some of van Watson's conclusions, I will forever be grateful to him for writing the first thing I read that not only argued for Queer interpretations of Shakespeare's work, but plainly stated that Queer interpretations have been deliberately muted in academia.

"For the better part of four centuries, the same Shakespearean scholars who have praised the bard for his almost universal understanding of human psychology have been intent on straitjacketing his concept of human sexuality into a limited and conformist heterosexual polarity. There is, quite simply, more in heaven and earth, as well as in Shakespeare, than is dreamt of in this simple-minded homophobic philosophy, as recent gender deconstructive readings of such plays as The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and particularly Twelfth Night have indicated... Unfortunately the term "Renaissance friendship" has long functioned as the closet in which certain scholars have hidden their own homophobia... Homosexuality existed in Renaissance society and Shakespeare knew it. Furthermore, Shakespeare wrote with a homosexually aware audience in mind. Otherwise, lines such as Hamlet's 'Man delights not me--nor woman neither' would not play (II.ii.309)..."

Van Watson argues that Zeffirelli granted the camera a "homosexual gaze" in his early work with lingering shot of conventionally handsome young men. This helps to make their scenes "memorable for being emotionally charged." However there is notably a distinct absence of that in in the 1990 Hamlet.

"Traditionally Hamlet dies in Horatio's arms, Horatio's famous 'Goodnight sweet prince' functioning as the empathetic climax of the play. Instead, Zeffirelli represses any potentially homoerotic tensions in the relationship of Hamlet and Horatio by undermining its intimacy... "

Van Watson writes of the reason for Zeffirelli's change in focus:

"More than two decades intervened between Zeffirelli's earlier Shakespeare films and his Hamlet. His more advanced age partially accounts for his obsession with death in this more recent work, as does his survival of a life-threatening automobile accident in 1969. In fact, this incident proved something of a turning point in Zeffirelli's life, prompting a sort of reconversion to his Catholic faith. He made a 'vow to dedicate my work to God whenever possible (Zeffirelli 238)..."

Essentially, van Watson cites Zeffirelli's recommitment to Catholicism-- and its prohibition on homosexuality-- as the reason for the skeletal relationship between the young male characters in the 1990 Hamlet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Gregory Doran's 2009 Hamlet

I did not see a production of Hamlet that resonated with me until Gregory Doran's 2009 production. David Tennant's Hamlet is clever and calculating but with just the right touch of vulnerability that allows his relationship with Peter de Jersey's Horatio to hit. It is still one of my favorite productions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Robert Icke's 2018 Hamlet

Robert Icke's Hamlet (2018) blew me away.

In an interview, that production's Hamlet, Andrew Scott said that his interpretation of Hamlet is that the character truly loves every other character he shares the stage with.

I think that is really the secret to the play. Icke's production not only gives attention to the relationship between Horatio and Hamlet, but gives due attention to Laertes and Ophelia as well. It is the best production of Hamlet that I've ever seen, and I highly recommend it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. One Last Rant on Queer Theory:

For me all of Shakespeare's work should be strongly tied to Queer theory. Every character is written with the awareness that they would be played by male actors. There is a strong metatheatrical vein running through Shakespeare’s writing that draws attention to that fact. However, queerness has been suppressed on and off the stage. The continued neglect and disregard of Queerness in academic discussion is delusional. I do not know how a person can come to close to grappling with this play without Queer Theory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway...

I like Hamlet a lot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Side note: I really want to see a production where the same actor playing Ophelia also plays the second grave digger and Osric, so that her presence in the final blood bath would fulfill Laertes line "A ministering angel shall my sister be / When thou liest howling."

[moonchildsfae]

Love's Labour's Lost (dir. Gregory Doran, 2008)

Happy birthday to the bard!

[girlonfilms]

David Tennant to discuss Shakespeare at special event

David Tennant will sit down with former Royal Shakespeare Company lead Greg Doran to discuss the work of the Bard at a special event in London next month. Continue reading David Tennant to discuss Shakespeare at special event

David Tennant to discuss Shakespeare at special event

[heyho-simonrussellbeale]

BBC to broadcast stage shows to mark Shakespeare’s First Folio 400th anniversary

Special documentaries and releases have also been announced

At the heart of the initiative is the three-part documentary series for BBC Two and iPlayer titled Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, featuring contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Adrian Lester, Lolita Chakrabarti, Martin Freeman and Jessie Buckley, alongside academics and writers including James Shapiro, Jeanette Winterson, Lucy Jago, Jeremy O’Harris and Ewan Fernie.

The documentary series will be made available from 8 November at 9pm.

A whole host of archived productions and Shakespeare-based films will be released across October and November to celebrate the contributions made by the First Folio.

There will also be specially created new introductions for many of these, featuring David Tennant on Hamlet, Richard Eyre on King Lear, Janet Suzman on Wars of the Roses, Gregory Doran on the Shakespeare Gala from the RSC, Russell T Davies on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mirren on As You Like It, Hugh Quarshie on Othello, Steven Berkoff on Hamlet at Elsinore, Simon Russell Beale on The Hollow Crown, and Ian McKellen on All is True.