Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Andrew Scott, Jessica Brown Findlay, Angus Wright, Juliet Stevenson, David Rintoul, Barry Aird, Calum Finlay, Joshua Higgott, Elliot Barnes-Worrell, Marty Cruikshank, Amaka Okafor, Daniel Rabin, Luke Thompson, Peter Wright, Matthew Wynn.

There is always mileage in the heart of a universal play that means it never runs out of steam, it might falter and choke once in a while, it might be considered as bloated, overweight, have the wrong driver, be overwhelmed by passengers who contribute nothing to the aesthetics of the piece but on the whole it is one that often purrs along. The luxury on the outside replicated on the inside, the joy of seeing the production vehicle out on the road is a radiant sight and even when it is via the medium of television, the excitement and drama is one on which to celebrate.

Hamlet, a play to whom the writing of one mere mortal man is amongst the very finest of all who seek solace and comfort in the pen, has that distinction of being the dream and captivating soul of theatre when it framed right, even in the dark shadows of a misplaced lead, it can still illuminate, briefly but as a structure, as a reflection on the mind of humanity, it takes an awful lot to let it down.

For each age, there is a Hamlet who shines, and in this filmed for television in front of a live theatre audience from the Almedia Theatre, sees Andrew Scott grapple with the melancholy, the spirit of his father and the restlessness of Shakespeare with grace, unpretentious fortitude and a look of the manic turmoil to which few have managed to conceive in the performances.

Each actor playing Hamlet in the theatre brings something new, each film dedicated to the tragedy of the piece perhaps sees the role glorified in a way that only cinema can possess, and yet each of them in the last forty years or so, has played with the idea of confidence within the titular role. You only have to look at David Tennant’s storming passion on the Stratford stage in 2008 to understand the appeal of the undercurrent of trust and loyalty that Hamlet brings from his friends, even at his lowest, when sent away from his homeland to England, he still has the confidence in his heart to suggest that he will return victorious.

With Andrew Scott, that confidence is replaced by a sense of chaos, a bundle of energy that melancholy destroys, erodes moment by moment and in his rage at his mother, performed by the superb Juliet Stevenson in rather magnificent form, is more than the suggesting of Oedipal love and hate, instead it is regressive, perfect havoc and commotion, the communication between mother and child when the offspring knows instinctively not to trust the parent completely.

A modern world imaging of Hamlet, one that brings forth a more subtle demand but one that theatre fans who were not able to travel to London for this particular production, will have been overwhelmed to see it in its entirety on the small screen. There is the rub, television does not have to destroy the theatre, in this specific case, it does it the enormous honour of enhancing the experience, one that is a must see pleasure.

Ian D. Hall