By the way, that thing in Tennant's right hand? Not a sonic screwdriver.
First, two newspaper reviews, and then, after the jump, comments from my pal Ty Davies (no relation to Russell) who was in Stratford last weekend to see David Tennant in Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Benedict Nightingale in TimesOnline.co.uk:
I’ve seen bolder Hamlets and more moving Hamlets, but few who kept me so
riveted throughout. Even when Tennant boggles in wonder at his father’s
ghost or dismay at his incestuous mother, his eyes, teeth and steep,
furrowed brow don’t do all the acting. Indeed, the first surprise is the
intensity of his mourning. He stands there in his black suit and tie,
impervious to the champagne drinkers partying beneath their crystal
chandeliers, and then, left alone, he twists, half-collapses, crouches,
squeals and screeches in an agony of grief, rage and disgust. And then comes
the second, concomitant surprise.
Mark Brown in The Guardian:
The good reviews will not be a surprise to those who have followed
Tennant's brilliant career beyond the Tardis. In his younger days, he
was an RSC regular with excellent reviews for his Romeo and Touchstone.
Both Tennant and David Morrissey were superb in Blackpool, BBC1's
musical murder romp in 2004, and he was the best thing in BBC3's
Casanova a year later. While he has brought new life to Doctor Who, he
has not ditched more challenging roles such as the brain-injured
protagonist in Tony Marchant's play Recovery.
Charles Spencer in the Telegraph:
Casting Tennant was a far from cynical ploy, however. He has already
done the RSC some service, spending several seasons with the company as
an exceptionally promising young actor whose roles included Romeo.
Nor should his performance as Doctor Who be mocked.
Funny, clever and with sudden flashes of deep emotion, Tennant's time
lord strikes me as a pretty good jumping off point for the most famous
and challenging of all Shakespearean characters.
So
how does he fare? Well, Tennant isn't in the pantheon of the great
Hamlets yet. As a student prince, who swaps his formal suit of mourning
for jeans and T-shirt in Gregory Doran's sometimes brutally cut
production, he captures the character's intelligence, wit and
quicksilver mood changes.
Hey, I figured I had to include one review that wasn't over the moon, so to speak.
After the jump: Ty, a fan clip from YouTube shot outside the stage door when Tennant emerges (using the new YouTube annotation add-on) and more pics. The video is dark, but you can hear everything, at least.
Pics are taken by Jamie Wallace at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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