Word: gielgud
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...concept of a modern-dress Hamlet has lost something of its shock value; for the setting of his current production, John Gielgud claims only the virtue of unobtrusiveness. The point of it, he says, is to have the play "unencumbered by an elaborate reconstruction of any historical period." The cast appears mostly in "rehearsal clothes"--slacks and sweaters, suits, and in one case, a garish red vest...
...quite simple and the lighting rudimentary. There is no ghost--Gielgud speaks his lines while a shadow plays on the curtain. This is Hamlet pared to the bone, without "theatricality...
...effective production, effective largely because Gielgud never makes fetishes out of his innovations. He puts costumes on his actors when their absence might be confusing--the priest who buries Ophelia is surpliced and Osric carries his elaborate hat. The "play within the play" is performed in costume. Hamlet sports a jersey and trousers, if not a cloak, of "inky black...
...modern costumes can be as distracting as those of any period. Most of the time, however, the setting creates the impression Gielgud wanted to make: that of an unencumbered stage on which the actors are free to put together an unusual series of character portraits. Under Gielgud's direction some of the familiar roles take on new aspects...
...production, it stunningly displays its homework in the solid sweep of Norman arches, the mist-and-heath-er greens of old England. But in the end it holds interest chiefly as a pageant so prodigally endowed with talent that it can, for example, afford to squander Sir John Gielgud in a minor role as Louis VII of France...