Word: burtons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Richard Burton's Hamlet is an unusual one. There is little of the melancholic in him; in fact, the keynote of his portrayal is almost unbounded energy. He is at his best when Hamlet is near distraction, especially in the almost impossible scene after the ghost has left him alone on the stage. As Marcellus and Horatio enter they come upon a Hamlet whose "wild and whirling words" are no more disordered than his mind. He rushes violently about the stage, his comrades trailing after him. When the voice from the cellerage cries "Swear," Burton breaks into an exultant cackle...
There is, however, another side, a quieter, more relaxed side, to Burton's Hamlet. This is the gentlemanly prince, out for a walk with Horatio, who comes across a gravedigger and pauses to discuss the shortness of life; this, too, is the musing, reflective Hamlet who recites the "To be or not to be" soliloquy almost without a change of tone, almost without a gesture. Burton's Hamlet begins his speech in a reverie, and remains in it until Ophelia interrupts...
There are small things wrong with Burton's performance. He gets off to a rather slow start with the council scene, he rushes his advice to the players, his dueling, considering the number of times he has played the role, is remarkably unprofessional. But this is mere carping at a fascinating performance. As with the rest of this Hamlet, the good far outweighs the bad; and perhaps the best thing about the production is the rediscovery that Burton is a fine, fine actor and not merely whats her name's husband...
...long last, Elizabeth Rosamond Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher took on the Burton. After 24 months as the world's most famous lovers, the seemingly (or unseemlily) inseparable couple made it legal in Montreal at a Unitarian ceremony attended only by eleven of their dearest employees. It was a hush-hush, rush-rush affair, for which they secretly flew up from Toronto-where Dick is doing Hamlet-in a chartered Viscount. By 2:20 that afternoon, here came the bride, all dressed in yellow chiffon, topped by a nuptial hairdo that featured a 34-in., hyacinth-entwined coil...
...Burton-Becket hardly senses this obsession; his concern is his own soul, "Where honor should be, in me there is only a void," he tells his mistress (Sian Phillips). Then the easy-living courtier becomes archbishop, and fate summons him to uphold "the honor of God." But does he die to defend canon law, made great by the great office thrust upon him, or is he merely a self-appointed martyr in search of his Cain? Given a mass of ambiguities to project, Burton projects them remarkably well. He daringly meets the competition offered by O'Toole with...