Word: hamlets
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Gaelic tongue and the several modern Irish dialects she employed (no actress in Ireland can even begin without competence in at least eight dialects). Her communicative magnetism kept her listeners rapt until almost seven o'clock; and she doubtless would have loved to keep reading if the ghost of Hamlet's father had not been due on stage a half hour later...
...York is fortunate to have her for still another month, in the title roles of Saint Joan and Hamlet, before she returns to her country--a great actress, scholar and musician, and a great human being...
...does Hamlet not quite come to life until the Prince is ready to die? Part of the reason lies in Director Stephen Aaron's approach to the play. In searching for a way to present Hamlet to a modern audience, Aaron was led back to the customs of the Elizabethan stage. Eschewing most modern "conveniences," he uses no incidental music apart from that indicated in Shakespeare's text, has no trick lighting, and permits just one intermission. Even the set, which was designed by John Ratte, suggests the Globe Playhouse, since it consists of little more than two platforms connected...
...performers acquit themselves with varying degrees of success. Colgate Salsbury, in the mountainous title role, takes a rather original approach to his part. His Hamlet is not so much a melancholy Dane as strong hero caught in an overwhelming situation. This helps make fast-moving parts of the play more striking but tends to weaken the inward-turning soliloquies. Hamlet's towering intellect comes through, but the troubled depths behind it are not always apparent...
...Hamlet, to be sure, is a hard play despite its greatness--hard both for the actors and the audience. Stephen Aaron, in presenting a production which, by modern standards at least, is stripped down to its very essentials has placed a large burden on both the cast and the audience. Was he right to do so? The last sections of the play largely justify his approach. As for the rest, his application of theory there shows up as an act of courage which is itself deserves no mean amount of praise...