HAMLET
by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's greatest tragedy
stripped bare. Two hours of sex, comedy, murder & madness!
An incredible Hamlet. George Dillon's production
brilliantly taps into the headlong madness of the play...
It's fast, physical and frequently hilarious. Unmissable.
TRIPLE F
This is a bizarre production that will infuriate as many
as it inspires. You can only go and make up your own
mind.
THE HERALD
An ensemble of seven performers,
two musicians and a talking dog use minimal settings and maximum
imagination to create a players' Hamlet; a feast of
raw acting power. Hamlet, often misconceived as a delicate
melancholic, is here revealed as Shakespearean audiences saw
him - the assured and angry avenger, disguising his true intentions
behind the mask of insanity - a classic Man of Action.
A fusion of theatrical traditions
- European and Japanese, classical and modern - and a diverse
range of music both live and recorded, ranging from Noh-inspired
flute & drum, via Jazz saxophone and minimalist violin
to the mock heroics of Sergio Leone and even Pulp
Fiction! This
Hamlet is, paradoxically, both uniquely original but
also studiously faithful to Shakespeare and makes for a highly
accessible, entertaining, and provocative theatrical experience.
I thought I knew Hamlet - until George Dillon got
hold of it! His version starts with one of the most
audacious decisions in theatrical history. I was deeply
curious to see what Dillon would do with Hamlet,
and now see what all his previous adulatory reviewers were
on about. He is physical, intense, a chameleon of
an actor. One moment he is tearing your heart out,
the next he is clowning around. His unusual face can
transform itself from tragic melancholy to malignant imp
in a flash. Hamlet needs a dangerous actor to play
him, and George Dillon is one such, with both the physical
and vocal discipline to carry the whole thing off. I recommend
it highly.
WORDS & MUSIC
Scintillatingly Shakespearean, feverish and compelling,
the production draws its inspiration, in terms of courtly
hierarchy from Japan; the company come kitted out in vaguely
Samurai costume, Hamlet and Laertes fling themselves into
kendo combat, and impassive musicians sit at either side
of an otherwise bare stage. In terms of acting, it
is full throttle School of Berkoff; swift and brutal, the
seven actors posturing, scuttling, roaring and whispering,
snatching each moment for instant effect. Hurling
aside the less-is-more style of acting, Dillon frequently
gives us the exact reverse. His Hamlet, already hyperactive,
is, when feigning madness, absolutely barking. Behind
all this simmers a restless, constrained maverick, a natural
fighter contemptuous of his fellow man and finally brought
low by cool, malign authority. You can't take your eyes
off it for a second. Dillon's performance bursts with
swaggering vitality. It is never less than idiosyncratic,
and alternately perverse, virile, willful, illuminating
and extravagant, and sometimes all five at once. His
vocal control is astonishing.
THE SCOTSMAN
A VERY PALPABLE HIT
I can honestly say George Dillon's Hamlet is one of the
most entertaining productions I've seen. It's full
of innovations. George is an exceptional talent and the
role could have been written for him. Few productions of
this play hold the attention as much as this because you
never know quite what to expect.
THE PUNTER
As director Dillon has drawn on the notion of Hamlet as
a potential Everyman by treating the play as a meeting point
of theatre traditions, (Hamlet as samurai) while comic buffoonery
surrounds Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, the one a camp figure,
the other a gruff glove puppet dog - palace poodles the
pair. Unsurprisingly for someone who has worked closely
with Steven Berkoff, Dillon provides a strongly physical
theatre, often to thrilling effect. No, not the complete
Hamlet but as vital and alive as you'll find.
TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT
George Dillon's Tour Dates(as of Sunday, 28 February 2021) |
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TOWN, Venue |
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