BIG FINISH CLASSICS REVIEW
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S HAMLET
By Jack Ryan
BEWARE: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
“A LITTLE MORE THAN KIN, AND LESS THAN KIND…”
Out of all of the Bard’s works, Hamlet is not only his most famous, but also, most likely, his most adapted work, with countless stageplays of it over the last four centuries, films fronted by Laurence Oliver, Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, television adaptations with Derek Jacobi and David Tennant, and even the tale inspiring major plot points of the Disney animated feature, The Lion King. Today, we have another adaptation to add to the echelons of history: Big Finish’s adaptation with the glorious Alexander Vlahos…
Tragedy has befallen the kingdom of Denmark, King Hamlet has died, and in his place, his brother Claudius has taken command of the country. After time has passed, the former king’s wife, Gertrude has married Claudius and all remains well. Save for young prince Hamlet, troubled by the thoughts that there is more to this dark tale than he has seen. His suspicions are confirmed when he and his friend, Horatio, discover the restless undead spirit of the dead king. And he has news for the prince, news that will begin the downfall of Hamlet’s sanity, his relationships with all he holds dear, and the Danish monarchy itself…
“THE PLAY’S THE THING!”
When it was announced that Big Finish was doing this, I and others approached this with excitement and a slight bit of caution. Unlike every other Big Finish classics release, this would be taking its source from a stageplay. And whilst a stageplay is usually in written form, it isn’t the same narrative style as a novel. With a novel, the motivations, flaws and quirks of characters, as well as the look of the settings and the feel of the atmosphere, are all down to the writer’s, and the reader’s, imagination. It’s partly the same for stageplay, except that the writer is only one half of deciding on how those things are handled; the rest is up to the performers, designers and directors. With a stageplay, it’s like a more, for want of a better term, real version of a film or TV series; the story is still told, but everything is presented to you and you have no input into it to make it more unique for you.
“TO BE, OR NOT TO BE…”
This is the worry that I almost had with this one, but then I listened to it whilst reading the text. Script editor Justin Richards, a fellow Shakespeare nut, did a masterful job of adapting the script so the story flows as it normally should whilst also removing the filler to keep the tale contained to the three hours the discs could allow. And it was there that I noticed something. Hamlet was written round about the time of Elizabeth I’s final years as Queen, and around that time, stages like the Globe, the Rose, any like that… All they were was a stage. That’s it. You might have some dressing but basically it was bog standard… and they made it work. That’s because the plays were written to accommodate it, and so Shakespeare and others created natural sounding dialogue to show what was happening that would have, if it were a novel, ended up as a narrative description. This ends up making Shakespeare a perfect fit for any medium of storytelling. There’s enough descriptive natural dialogue that you don’t need to adapt it. And Richards knew this. All that was done to the script was take out the bits that weren’t needed, and with that, Richards was able to make this classic story seem even more accessible and flowing.
“IF WE ARE TRUE TO OURSELVES, WE CANNOT BE FALSE TO ANYONE!”
But, as was said before, with something like this, the writer is only half of what makes it unique. The rest comes down to everyone else. And in this case, producer and director Scott Handcock had a pretty easy job when coming up with a cast, as the vast majority of them come from his acclaimed Confessions of Dorian Gray series, from one time or another. (Also, if you haven’t listened to that yet, do so after you listen to this.) With the likes of Miles Richardson as Claudius, Tracey Childs as Gertrude, Terry Molloy as Polonius, Deirdre Mullins as Ophelia, Samuel Barnett as Laerties, Daniel Brocklebank as Horatio and Barnaby Edwards as the Ghost to name a few, not only does this release boast a star studded cast, but also one that brings everything they have and everything they can to every line delivered. Well of course they would, this is Shakespeare.
“THIS ABOVE ALL: TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE…”
But the highlight of this cast is Scott’s greatest accomplishment, the great Alexander Vlahos as Hamlet. Vlahos manages to be better than any of the other iterations of Hamlet that I have seen or experienced, for the sole fact that having Hamlet as a younger character makes everything make much more sense. Can you really imagine a man of the age of Olivier or Brannagh, going through with the, to be fair, childish antics that Hamlet undergoes to spy on Claudius and pretend he is insane? With a younger lead, it makes it more believable as, despite being in the third decade of life, he would still be of the age where the childishness of yesteryear could creep back in with regards to his plans and his feigned madness, whilst still having the doubting mind to not accept the so called “truth” of his father’s sudden death and to be wary of those around him. And another good thing is that Hamlet gives the title character’s actor the best excuse to overact, and Vlahos is no different, providing a nice slice of humour in an otherwise tragic story.
“CALL ME WHAT INSTRUMENT YOU WILL… YOU CANNOT PLAY UPON ME.”
And as well as reuniting his Dorian Gray cast, Handcock has also brought back the formidable talents of James Dunlop and Neil Gardner to handle the music and sound design, respectively. And oh, is it perfect. Their work makes every last little scene seem authentic from the days of Hamlet, and yet simple enough that it could work in any setting. No tune or sound seems anachronistic regardless of whatever period you place the story in. Every last little effort they have has gone into this magnum opus and the end result is just something so sublime, it helps make this version of the story seem eternally timeless.
“GOODNIGHT, SWEET PRINCE…”
Every last little doubt that was ever had about this release was tossed out the window when it finished. This release not only shows a good love and understanding of the source material, but a whole cast and crew that understand one another, can work together brilliantly, and create such a perfect adaptation that it could nearly be called the definitive version of the story. This is perhaps the biggest risk ever taken with the Big Finish Classics range, and from my listening of it, plus the fact that we will be seeing a release of David Warner as King Lear in November, it was a risk well taken. Here’s hoping Big Finish has some more outings for the immortal Bard…
VERDICT: 10/10 A perfect, flawless adaptation that will hopefully be remembered as one of the best takes on the Prince of Denmark.
Big Finish Classics: Hamlet is available to purchase on CD and Download from the Big Finish Website here, and from all good stockists.
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