Wow. This was amazing. Just bloody amazing.
This is a one-person presentation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The one person doing the presentation is comedian Eddie Izzard. I haven't caught a lot of her material over the years, but the Lovely Bride had and got us tickets. This was not part of the Rep's standard season, and was held in the smaller Leo K. Theater.
But, wow.
Eddie Izzard is best-known for her comedy, so I expected comedy. A light-hearted take on a classic. And boy, was I wrong. This was a spell-binding performance that held the audience rapt as she essayed Hamlet in its dramatic glory.
And she plays all 23 characters - Prince, King and Queen, Ghost and Gravedigger. And she does it with a subtlety and grace that enraptures, moving from character to character fluidly yet defining each one with their own voice. Watching the full-bore performances of the Shakespearean canon, I sometimes get lost among the characters, costumes, and pageantry. Yet on this simple, mostly bare stage (set designer Tom Piper), Izzard commands every inch. Creating a sword-fight from both sides without swords is incredible in itself, yet Izzard pulls it off.
There was a bit of humor here. I mean, we are talking Shakespeare. The Gravediggers contribute their lines, and Izzard presents Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as hand puppets (oh-so-effectively), but for the most part Izzard plays it directly and honestly. The writer in me recognizes all the bits that we've since looted and turned into common phrases, but Izzard restores them to their proper place in the plot. And the soliloquies are pure and solid.
I've referred to a lot of Shakespearean performances as "Shakespeare-Adjacent" - revisions, modernizations, recreations, and inspirations. Examples include Fat Ham and Mac Beth. This isn't that. This is full-bore Shakespeare's plots, words and actions, but boiled down to their bare framework and presented in a natural, accessible style. Izzard's command of the language, accents, and the stage itself was simply marvelous, and the entire audience rose to their feet at the end of performance with hearty and enthusiastic applause.
Now let me throw you the bad news - the rest of the performances (they already extended a week) are sold out, but there are SRO tickets available. But if you can, this one is worth catching.
More later,
