Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Yaël Farber’s production of HAMLET, starring Ruth Negga, is a wrenching slow-burn

• By drediman
• February 12, 2020
• No Comments

Ruth Negga as “Hamlet” at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Photo by Teddy Wolff.

Last night at St. Ann’s Warehouse, I caught Yaël Farber’s much-anticipated staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Over the last decade or so, Ms. Farber has worked around the globe, making a name for herself for the heightened intensity of her productions (of her stagings, I’ve seen Mies Julie, Nirbhaya, Salome, and Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise). Now she brings her Hamlet – a co-production with Dublin’s Gate Theatre – to New York. Given her resume, Ms. Farber’s take on perhaps Shakespeare’s best-known work is as urgent an experience as you’d expect from this insightful South African director.

At a length of three-and-a-half hours, you’d expect that Ms. Farber’s production would have attempted to cram in a near-complete rendition of the text. But no, this Hamlet is actually one of the most pared down and re-arranged – scenes have been re-ordered to maximize dramaturgical sense and dramatic effect – versions of the tragedy I’ve encountered. Indeed, the character of Fortinbras and his associated scenes have been completely excised, as well as many of the play’s moments of brevity, resulting in one of the most somber and gloomy versions of the play I’ve seen. The hefty running time is attributable to Ms. Farber’s deliberately slow-burning staging.

Which is not to say that the production failed to hold my attention — far from it. Thankfully, her exceptional Irish cast is up to the challenge, and they wring much of the exquisite nuance from the Bard’s iconic text brilliantly. Leading the charge is Oscar nominee Ruth Negga as the titular Danish prince. Undaunted and alive, the actress brings magnetism and robust transparency to the role despite her diminutive physique. Rarely did her performance ring false as she attacked one of the Herculean roles in Western drama. Other standouts include Nick Dunning’s well-judged Polonius and Aoife Duffin’s emotionally raw Ophelia. But in my book, the real star of the evening is Ms. Farber’s firm, heavily-scored staging, which manages to be at once stylish and muscular. In her hands, the play’s grim existential musings are fleshed out with wrenching clarity.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

HAMLET
Off-Broadway, Play
Dublin’s Gate Theatre / St. Ann’s Warehouse
3 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through March 8