Directors take centre stage

The imaginative vision of those behind the scenes brings out the best acting in Shakespeare and Chekhov revivals

- Michael Billington

AT my age—85, if you must know— I am often asked how theatre has changed in my lifetime. I usually answer that we have moved from an actor’s theatre to a writer’s theatre and now to a director’s theatre. It is an oversimplification, but the truth of it is borne out by a quartet of classic revivals, three of which are dominated by a strong directorial vision.

There is no question that Rupert Goold is the animating force behind the new production of Hamlet at Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It was his decision to set the action on board a ship, Elsinore, on the same day in April 1912 that Titanic sank. The immediate advantage is that it makes for visual excitement. Es Devlin’s superb set presents us with a ship’s deck that tilts precariously and the turbulent seas are forever visible in Akhila Krishnan’s video design. As in all good productions, we are also reminded that Hamlet’s personal predicament has to be seen in a larger context. Normally, it is the idea that Denmark is a corrupt kingdom on a war footing; here it is the notion that all the characters are doomed to a watery grave.

I have minor quibbles—Polonius’s farewell speech to Laertes is upstaged by fussy transport arrangements—but this is a genuinely exciting production that makes you look at a familiar play through fresh eyes. Although it is Mr Goold’s vision, he gives breathing space to his actors. Luke Thallon is a compelling Hamlet: edgy, neurotic, unmoored (to pursue the nautical metaphor) by the revelation of his father’s murder. He chops up the verse too much at times, but he is a man wrestling with the Ghost’s injunction and his own internal demons.