David Tennant's Hamlet
The BBC’s great performances production of Hamlet is a unique contemporary adaption of Shakespeare’s play. The film was directed by Gregory Doran and starred David Tennant and Sir Patrick Stewart. Despite the change in time setting and other small adjustments made to the film more appealing for the small screen, Doran’s adaption of Hamlet was intriguing and stayed true to the overall feel of the Shakespeare’s play.
The film had minor adjustments to the original script, probably to make the lines of the characters more concise and reduce the running time and make the film adaption more suitable for the small screen. Hamlet is the longest of Shakespeare’s plays and, with no adaptations made to the script, takes a little over 4 hours to perform, …show more content…
I feel like Doran was attempting to portray Hamlet’s character as truly insane. Since Patrick Stewart plays both the roles of Claudius and the Ghost of Hamlet’s father [making them identical twins], this just adds to the idea that hamlet is truly mad when he says “The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See what a grace was seated on this brow; Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself…” (Doran- Hamlet). Tennant was able to effectively portray the restless state of Hamlet’s Mental instability and his micro expressions pulled off the state of depression and obsession with revenge really well. However, in some scenes the acting, gestures, and yelling were a bit extreme, making some more serious scenes a bit laughable. An example is the scene, “Lady Shall I lie in your lap”, where Tennant’s portrayal of Hamlet’s state of madness was a bit goofy and uncomfortable to watch. Also the scene, “The play’s the thing”, I found the costume choice of a bright orange shirt and jeans, even though I think I understand the costuming choice [that Hamlet was letting himself go in appearance], obnoxious and distracted the viewer from what was going on in the scene.where Tennant’s portrayal of Hamlet’s state of madness was a bit too goofy and was uncomfortable to watch (Doran-Hamlet). There is one scene in the film in particular where the costume choice was a
The film had minor adjustments to the original script, probably to make the lines of the characters more concise and reduce the running time and make the film adaption more suitable for the small screen. Hamlet is the longest of Shakespeare’s plays and, with no adaptations made to the script, takes a little over 4 hours to perform, …show more content…
I feel like Doran was attempting to portray Hamlet’s character as truly insane. Since Patrick Stewart plays both the roles of Claudius and the Ghost of Hamlet’s father [making them identical twins], this just adds to the idea that hamlet is truly mad when he says “The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See what a grace was seated on this brow; Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself…” (Doran- Hamlet). Tennant was able to effectively portray the restless state of Hamlet’s Mental instability and his micro expressions pulled off the state of depression and obsession with revenge really well. However, in some scenes the acting, gestures, and yelling were a bit extreme, making some more serious scenes a bit laughable. An example is the scene, “Lady Shall I lie in your lap”, where Tennant’s portrayal of Hamlet’s state of madness was a bit goofy and uncomfortable to watch. Also the scene, “The play’s the thing”, I found the costume choice of a bright orange shirt and jeans, even though I think I understand the costuming choice [that Hamlet was letting himself go in appearance], obnoxious and distracted the viewer from what was going on in the scene.where Tennant’s portrayal of Hamlet’s state of madness was a bit too goofy and was uncomfortable to watch (Doran-Hamlet). There is one scene in the film in particular where the costume choice was a