Review by Raphael Kohn
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
There’s lots of things a director can do with Hamlet in the 21stcentury. From modern dress productions to stark, black-box minimalism to highly traditional concepts, there’s no shortage of creative ideas around. This one, the RSC’s first Hamletsince their acclaimed 2016 production starring Paapa Essiedu, is a little different, taking the Denmark-set plot and putting it… on the Titanic. Helmed by director Rupert Goole, it’s a bold new concept. Thankfully though, unlike its setting’s wreck at the bottom of the Atlantic, this production is a tremendous force to be reckoned with which never risks sinking – a titan of a show in its own right.
I should clarify that somewhat. At no point is the word ‘Titanic’ ever actually used or shown on any screens. But with projections on a large screen behind the stage setting the action on 14th April 1912, and with clocks next to the stage providing an ominous countdown to the climax, it’s clear enough as it is. With the setting of Elsinore now reconceived as on the Titanic, its courts are set on the first-class quarters, its corridors are reconceived as the engine room, and the guards’ platform is the deck of the ship.
To cement the vision, an ensemble gets more and more frantic between scenes as they pack their bags and distribute life jackets (to the oblivion of the ruling classes who dine and dance while the lower classes panic – with the exception of the neurotic and desperate Hamlet). It’s as close as you can get to portraying the Titanic without using the word. Maybe a pedant would argue that it’s just a boat which happens to appear to sink on the same day and time the Titanic sunk. But for clarity in this review, I’m just going to call it the Titanic itself.
Otherwise, the plot is left intact as it is. It still follows Hamlet, prince of Denmark, mourning his father and resenting his uncle’s hasty marriage to his mother, giving him the throne. Upon meeting the ghost of his father, he discovers the new king’s plot to murder his father, setting in motion a tale of revenge and conspiracy. Putting this all on the Titanic gives this a sense of urgency, as if there’s a time limit to it all – indeed, it all takes place over a course of hours rather than months.
It's one of the most well-known Shakespeare plays though. I guess this presents a challenge to every new production – how do you go about making it fresh and unique while also making it work for an audience who will know it well? A key component if this is always the lead actor, who must contend with the existing expectations while also putting their own stamp on the role.
Thankfully, they have quite a star in their Hamlet, as Luke Thallon makes his RSC debut (and I imagine this will be far from his only performance for the RSC). His Hamlet is erratic, jittery, and full of nervous energy, which takes a moment or two to get used to, as he obliterates Shakespeare’s verse and poetic structures and instead delivers the lines in outbursts and disjointed statements to reflect his mentality, disturbed and volatile throughout. It’s certainly a risk, deconstructing Shakespeare’s meter like this, but it somehow works and never becomes an issue as Thallon’s Hamlet descends into madness, feigned or otherwise. There’s no doubt that this will go down as a career-defining moment for Thallon as it develops into an absolute tour-de-force performance.
As the programme notes say, it’s a play ‘full of bangers’. By that, they’re referring to all the many moments from Hamletimmortalising themselves in culture. Beyond the skull held in an outstretched hand and many small quotes which have made their way into quote books on gift shop shelves, there is of course the Act 3 speech ‘to be or not to be’, hardly unfamiliar to anyone. Thallon doesn’t go overboard, restraining his nerves for a moment, and delivers it so masterfully that it’s as if he wrote it himself, surrounded by a freeze-frame tableau of the ensemble that is a visual delight all in itself.
Thallon is accompanied by some big names in theatre, with Elliot Levey’s Polonius providing a brilliant balance of comedy and drama, while Jared Harris’ Claudius is utterly detestable and odious throughout, approaching his initial scenes with subtlety to allow for his true colours to come out as the show progresses. Nancy Carroll’s desperate and powerless queen Gertrude is magnificent to watch, while further melancholy is provided by Nia Towle’s heartbreakingly understated Ophelia. Most of all though, they all work best when they work together, as an immaculately assembled cast to discover Hamlet afresh in Goold’s new vision.
There’s almost a new character at play here, though. Setting Hamlet on a ship could have been a novelty idea if not executed well, but Es Devlin’s design for this piece practicallyacts as a character in itself. At first glance, the onstage platform looks to be a starkly bleak bow of the ship, with a water feature surrounding it, and angled just far enough to provoke a bit of anxiety that an actor might slip downstage. And then, well, there’s no easy way to describe this, but the ship starts to sink.
By putting the set on what can only be described as a motorised see-saw (not in action constantly to make some of us actually sea-sick, thankfully), scenes can be set at steeper and steeper angles, their actors visibly struggling to stay upright as the set tilts further and further down. This is no better demonstrated by the high-octane climax of the piece, which simply must be seen to be believed. Obliterating the usual entrances through the audience to the thrust stage, the actors almost exclusively enter from beneath the stage, through trapdoors and stairways. It’s a simply stunning design.
It's complimented brilliantly too by Jack Knowles’ lighting, making the most of the night-time voyage setting by lighting everything particularly sparingly, using more darkness than light throughout. Similarly, Akhila Krishnan uses a large screen behind the stage to constantly remind us of the oceans surrounding the voyage onstage, while at times cleverly displaying this through port-holes of various sizes to create new settings with minimal onstage changes.
To cap it all off, Evie Gurney’s gorgeous period costumes separate power from subservience, dressing Claudius in smart uniforms and Hamlet in progressively scrappier (but never non-period) shirts, and striking gowns and dresses for Gertrude and Ophelia. Much of Gurney’s designs highlight darkness over light, with even bright colours seeming as if they suck all brightness out of their wearers – a magnificent pairing with Knowles’ lighting design and Devlin’s set. There’s such symbiosis between the design elements here that it can only be described as remarkable.
I think that symbiosis really epitomises why Goold’s Hamletworks so well. It’s a tremendously bold concept, no doubt. It takes risks (seemingly also with the actors’ safety on a set that appears to be almost steeper than 45 degrees!), but it takes its risks confidently. Drawing together the creative expertise available and an immaculately well-directed cast who demonstrate such insight into their characters, what results is nothing less than a thrilling and moving theatrical feat, intense and stunning throughout. It’s going on tour in 2026, and I’d put my money on a London run too; don’t make the mistake of missing it.
Hamlet plays at the RSC’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 29th March 2025, then touring in 2026. Tickets for the Stratford-Upon-Avon run from https://www.rsc.org.uk/hamlet/
Photos by Marc Brenner