Interpretations

Two different actors, two different scenes, two different productions. Same play. David Tennant’s scene is much more as a play and less as a movie like Kenneth Branagh’s. He moves on the stage a lot and seems desperate. He even seems to be loosing his mind, and it is not for less because the very piece of Hamlet’s soliloquy that he is performing (Act 2, Scene 2.) the character is confused and feeling sorry for himself. He feels sorry for himself all throughout the play actually. And I guess this is why Hamlet is so famous, this pity of oneself is very common, but only Shakespeare was able to write it down. I felt sorry for the actor acting this scene. Desperate and annoyed. The fact that I felt this makes him successful I guess, as an actor. The whole point is to be able to transmit the feeling that the character, through bare words, is transmitting to the reader. I know it is the acting and the lines he is saying that is important when performing, but the props, the scenery and costume plays a key role as well. David Tennant’s clothes are modern and chilled. He is in jeans, bare foot, and a t-shirt with a skeleton printed on it (which btw is very symbolic) and nothing more. He is in a room quite empty with antique furniture, contradicting his clothes. But well, it is a hundred year old play, the language and the furniture are old, the actor is young as well as his clothes.

In Kenneth Branagh’s version he is not so much desperate, nor loosing his mind, he is angry. Furious. And disappointed, he is speaks at a slower pace and tastes the words deeply. As if feeding the anger he is feeling and even bursts out into a louder voice to free it. He moves much slower than Tennant. In this scene he is indeed disappointed with what had happened,. His father’s death and his mother’s marriage to his uncle. The scenery is more elaborate in this scene, a room filled with furniture, mirrors, as a fancy palace that it is. Hamlet is dressed in an elegant black suit that fits very much his emotion. It is not modern at all. I mean, I won’t find anyone dressed like that walking in the street today, nor in a funeral, nor in a cocktail. It is old stylish, matching Shakespeare’s times. Of curse they are in two different facades of Hamlet, and feelings of him, but their interpretations are accurate.

I seem to be getting a clearer idea of who Hamlet is, or isn’t. I want to get to know him better, like if he were a friend of a friend whom I’ve seen in pictures and heard a lot about but have not yet gotten the pleasure, or disgrace to meet. I feel closer to Hamlet after watching these two videos regardless the difference in interpretations.