southwark theatres' education partnership

The STEP Young Critics Programme, funded by the Financial Times, gives young people from Southwark secondary schools the chance to work with a professional journalist and learn the skills needed to be a theatre critic. In November 2011, the programme worked with students from Charter School, Dulwich, and Andrew Dickson (The Guardian). As part of the programme students have had free tickets to see shows from the Unicorn Theatre, Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, the Young Vic and Theatre Local.

Here, we publish the work of three young critics who chose to review the Young Vic's much anticipated production of Hamlet starring Michael Sheen.

Review by Flo Dessau

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is often described as the best of his plays. Although this is opinion, can Ian Rickson’s adaptation sway many more?
Entering the building, as opposed to a justly, swanky bar of people coming straight from work, chattering about what they have heard about Sheen in Hamlet; we take the tour of the asylum. Through narrow corridors. Every detail has been attended to, from a faded non-smoking sign, to the disturbing ushers (or are they actors?). The experience is a thrilling way to enter a theatre. This sets you up for the performance, you are with the characters, and you know it won't be an ordinary Shakespeare play.
A new interpretation of such an old and beloved script was risky, but the risk paid off in Rickson’s case. The setting - an asylum – offers a dark atmosphere that is more than appropriate for this Shakespearean tragedy. It almost makes you ponder why people have not thought of this before.

It could be argued that the use of the asylum is too eccentric for such a classic play, but is the public being too prudish when it comes to Shakespeare? How many more traditional performances of Hamlet do we need? I believe Rickson is doing the right thing in taking Shakespeare in a new direction. It may be frightening, but it could also open up magical opportunities for hefty plays like this: and I think Britain should run with it. This version of Hamlet is history-in-the-making, and must be witnessed.

Staging by Jeremy Herbert is understated and perfect. The main setting being behind glass doors is just enough to captivate the audience into Hamlet’s world and not too much to take away from the outstanding acting on the simple front stage. Then in the second Act, the wonders of theatre are revealed with an amazing surprise, including the stage lifting up.

The most appealing part of this play is obviously the increasingly well recognised Michael Sheen. Sheen has wowed critics in films before. Now this performance takes his reputation to a new level, as he performs one of Shakespeare's most complex characters.

What stuns me most about Sheen’s performance as Hamlet is his ability to turn the troublesome Shakespearean language into a totally accessible part of the performance. This was also helped by Sheen adding comedy into a dark and upsetting play, be it his facial expressions, with a funny one liner, or the entire scene of Hamlet’s 'play' which was made comical with the strange use of a vacuum. It was refreshing to hear uproars of laughter from the audience at a Shakespearean tragedy.

Michael Sheen should be celebrated for this performance, he captures everything Hamlet should be and more; frantic, paranoid, but also good-hearted. And most significantly he gives Hamlet a personality.

Aside Sheen is a cast of more exceptional actors. You cannot pinpoint one bad actor in the whole production.

Vinette Robinson's performance of Ophelia was fascinating. In the second Act she shined with a heart-wrenching scene, in a wheelchair singing her pain of her father’s death.

Michael Gould strikes gold with his portrayal of this Polonius! Who does not have luck on his side in the play, though he never does anything wrong. He is a loving father to Ophelia and Laertes, and again Ian Rickson’s direction gives him the ability to be funny with his character, and he creates laughter and sadness in the auditorium.

Sam Jones casts a female to play the part of Horatio. This could not have worked better, not just any female performs this lovable character but Hayley Carmichael. As the last standing person after the plays climax, Carmichael gives a touching speech which left the atmosphere in the auditorium still, yet so powerful. This helped set up the utter perfection that is the last moment of the play.

I couldn't wait to jump up from my seat to give not only Michael Sheen but every aspect of this performance a well-deserved standing ovation.

Hamlet is unmissible for so many reasons. From the powerful acting to the magnificent lighting and sound, which makes it such an intriguing piece of theatre whether you are a Shakespeare fan or not.

You cannot judge this play for its outgoingness; you can only praise it. If you do, choose to shun it, be prepared to thoroughly regret that choice later.

Review by Lily Campbell

Four stars

Ian Rickson’s production of Hamlet takes a fresh look at the play. Set in an asylum you are immediately drawn into the soulful yet hostile character of Hamlet, and we are troubled throughout with the decision that if what we're watching is reality or illusion. The text itself is original and engaging, the cast manage to add incredible essence to the words that are being spoken and often, even make the language sound modern.

When watching there is a constant feel of unease. With the lights often plunging the audience into pitch blackness, and alarms going off, you feel that anything can happen – that you yourself as an audience member are threatened by the same dangers that Hamlet is haunted by.

Sheen’s take on Hamlet is refreshing. The character is a vortex of emotions, ranging from manic to charming. Sheen commands the stage as Hamlet providing lucid and energetic take on the classic part. As an audience we make an instant connection to the character, you forget the traditional story of Hamlet and we were simply thrown into this exceptional piece of theatre. Sheen manages to display the idea that Hamlet is insane, but there is still that humanity that draws the audience to him every time he is on stage.

Vinette Robinson is deeply moving as Ophelia. Her performance in the first half wasn’t as impressive – she lacked the depth that the character needed – however, when she came back after her father had been killed, Robinson’s performance was enchanting. When reciting mournful songs composed by PJ Harvey, her performance was almost ghostly and truly believable.

The stage is covered with ugly carpet and dotted with plastic chairs. Filing cabinets line the walls. Metal doors sometimes judder noisily, reinforcing the sense of a high-security enclosure. Shoes with laces have to be abandoned and visitors must wear shower sandals.

The costumes the actors wear are timeless, it’s difficult to pick a precise time in history that the play is set.

This is perfect for the piece, because the play itself has been repeated and worked on so many times, and even though Sheen is following many big names before him like David Tennant and Jude Law, the performance feels completely original, without losing the feeling of the play.

It is Sheen’s performance that is embedded in our memory. His ability to change his emotions so rapidly between scenes provides the audience with a constant change of emotion. Sheen is a dangerous and controversial Hamlet, one that will be hard to forget.
 

Review by Maxim Ryder

Five stars

I have never been a huge fan of Shakespearean plays as I find them difficult to understand verbally and hard to follow. However, Ian Rickson’s take on a traditional Shakespearean play may have just converted me.

The setting of Hamlet was fantastic. The pre-show journey where the audience were lead behind the stage and through a mental institute really set the scene. The actors interpreted workers either cleaning or monitoring behaviour on screens. Everything looked very naturalistic and accurate – it created a really surreal, clinical, mental effect, putting the audience out of their comfort zone. As you entered the stage you found yourself back in the theatre where you took your seats awaiting the next part of your Hamlet experience.

The set was also amazing. The glass screen and the huge red doors were brilliant extras for the characters to use and to illustrate how isolated and trapped Hamlet and the asylum are. The doors acted as barriers preventing Hamlet and the audience from seeing what was happening on the inside, shutting the asylum off from society and reality. The stage lifting out and upwards to reveal a sand pit, was one of the main highlights of the play. It took everyone by surprise and added a new dimension to the stage for the audience to see and experience. Ian Rickson and his production team brilliantly devised the stage and set. At times it really felt as though I was trapped with Hamlet in the asylum going mad myself.

The lighting, too, was excellent. The scene where Horatio and the other guards see the ghost of the father for the first time was excellently showcased by the lights. The use of snappy short glimpses of the lights caught the audience off guard; showing flashes of the dead king at the top of the stage above the audience, then black out, and then he appeared centre stage wielding a dagger! Whilst in the dark you feel scared, lonely and helpless, a lot like Hamlet would have felt when his Uncle took his father’s throne.

Michael Sheen was incredible; he was the best theatre actor I have ever seen. The emotion and exertion he puts his body through is inspirational to all young actors. He is a real role model. Actors such as Vinette Robinson and Michael Gould were also outstanding as Ophelia and Polonius. All the actors within the play were excellent; all of them supported each other and were extremely well rehearsed and practiced. They all sold the act of being in a mental asylum and really put this across to the audience. A particular scene that stood out was Hamlet’s show, featured at the end of Act 1. It added a new dimension of humour with madness to Hamlets character and Michael Sheen did really well in portraying this whilst the other characters watched in black comedy horror.

Ian Rickson feeds the audience his own interpretation of Hamlet. In setting Hamlet in a mental asylum, instead of a conventional castle, the director effectively illustrates how mad and trapped Hamlet really is. The Mental asylum acts as a barrier that Hamlet can never push past. Hamlet was trapped there by his father and is now trapped there by the love of his mother and the hatred of his Uncle. You start to understand and believe that the mental asylum is not just there to present an alternative setting but to illustrate and demonstrate a metaphorical form for Hamlet’s mind. What we start to understand is that the only way for Hamlet to escape the mental asylum, his mind, his paradox, is to die and so be set free.