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Well, whoever produced it, wasn't it outstanding? I mean, one can't go wrong with Patrick Stewart and David Tennant, but even more than that, I especially loved the presence of cameras everywhere. Of course, a motif in Hamlet is the presence of people constantly spying on each other, and I think it was great the way the production modernized a study in the end of privacy. (It did a much better job of that than the Ethan Hawke production did.)
I actually bought the box set from Amazon.com when they had it on sale for $100 (about 70GBP), which worked out to just over $2.50 per play!. I've been watching them in the order they were written (roughly) rather than the order that they were made/released, and I've been reviewing them here. The biggest problem with the play is that they're stuck in that awkward limbo between low-rent movies and blandly filmed theater productions. I think the selling point is that they're incredibly faithful and they generally boast fine actors and performances. So far, my favorites have been the plays that haven't seen the light on film or other more star-studded theatrical productions. The Henry VI saga was surprisingly riveting, and I thought Love's Labour's Lost and Comedy of Errors were quite charming for being such "light" plays.
I thought their version of Measure for Measure was brilliant.
There is a legend, or idea, that the first Hamlet you see will remain your favourite. Mine was Derek Jacobi and he remains my all-time Hamlet. I love all of these productions, even the ones that are supposedly awful such as Antony and Cleopatra. My favourite production is their Love's Labour's Lost, so amusing, poetic and full of light and wit. Superb. I love their Macbeth although it cannot compare, in my mind, to the Ian McKellen/Judi Dench production. I love love love young Helen Mirren in As You Like It. I once thought that I wanted to see all of the plays live on stage, but local Shakespeare productions often annoy me or put me to sleep, so I've stopped attending; and a huge part of my disappointment with American productions (beside my profound Anglophilia) is that I first saw the plays in these BBC productions and nothing, for me, can compare to their brilliance and authority. I saw one of these BBC adaptations at a house party with a troupe of players with whom I was performing Much Ado About Nothing, and to watch them with a bunch of players who are in that wonderful Shakespeare zone that comes from rehearsal and performance of Shakespeare was delicious, one of my happiest memories.
Many years ago I remember listening to the Radio broadcast of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. All Hamlet's now compare to his. Even David Tennant who I saw at Stratford.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopfrog
My first Hamlet was David Tennant, I think, and I thought he gave a strong performance.