Cultured Views

I read this question recently. Oh god, what a question…this is like asking Sir David Attenborough ‘what species of life on earth do you find the most interesting – other than the human kind?’

This is like asking a child…which sweet do you prefer?

This is like asking Steven Spielberg, Lord Richard Attenborough or Cecil B DeMille – ‘What film is your favourite?’

It all comes down to personal choice you see. Hamlet. The one character in his all his plays that Shakespeare left us to forever dwell on; asked us to dwell on! Hamlet has been brought to life by so many actors in so many different ways.

Sir John Gielgud – infinitely sensitive and vulnerable

Lawrence Olivier – ballsy; masculine – he brought Hamlet to the big screen in all his blonde-ness and with such bravado.

Richard Burton – stagey, brave – maybe too attractive for his time, but pure entertainment

Mel Gibson - not too stagey, not too ‘matinee idol’ – very much a Hamlet for the new millenium. Understated. Kind of sexy in a way. Does it matter how Hamlet is portrayed these days? How does Hamlet best reach the population…via TV, film or the stage?

You know what? Maybe the quintessential Hamlet has not yet been revealed. Why is this? Because I think it is due to Shakespeare’s words themselves; no actor has yet caught the spirit of Hamlet yet for me. He’s still out there waiting in the wings. Still waiting to be resurrected after nearly 500 years. 

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