Hamlet Review

One thing that really bothered me about the performance was the interpretation of the “To be or not to be” soliloquy.  In the play, Shakespeare never writes in a cue for Ophelia’s exit.  But in the version we saw, the director deliberately made sure she was offstage when Hamlet delivered his lines.  This was problematic for me because this scene offers tremendous insight into whether or not Hamlet is crazy.  If Ophelia is onstage we might assume that Hamlet talks about his suicide/cowardliness so that people will think that he is crazy and inactive.  Ophelia reentered only at the end of Hamlet’s speech, which gave no opportunity to see this speech as an act. 

            I did like, however, how the director portrayed Hamlet’s interaction with Ophelia directly after this.  This was the most emotion Hamlet showed in the entire play, and made him seem the most dynamic and threatening.  I particularly liked how Hamlet motioned towards the curtains where Polonius and Claudius were hiding, and made it seem like he was actually talking to them.  This led me to believe that Hamlet wasn’t crazy, and that he was acting when he did these things.  Both the written play and the version we saw make Hamlet’s mental state ambiguous, but where they give opportunities to decide change the interpretation entirely.