Saturday, February 19, 2011

Rory Kinnear's Hamlet - take two: Theatre Review Friday 18 February 2011 Nottingham Theatre Royal

We originally saw this production of the National Theatre's Hamlet (starring Rory Kinnear, Clare Higgins, Patrick Malahide and David Calder) via the NT Live! Broadcast to the Nottingham Broadway Cinema.

It was great, but it does highlight how seeing a LIVE production differs from watching a broadcast. Even more so than the Donmar's production of Lear, the NT's own broadcasts are rather more akin to filmic versions, complete with close-ups and controlled movement of individual players. This is no bad thing, but it does differ somewhat from seeing theatre --- something in the round with all the 'distractions' of having to choose where to look, of thinking where you focus is and what different people are doing on stage at any one time.

So in some ways I think I enjoyed seeing the proper live version even more than the broadcast one; as ever all praise to all involved for a very persuasive version of this well known text, proving (as ever) how it can be endlessly fresh.

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