Not to be

Lyttelton, National Theatre

After Bacchae provided a faltering start to Indhu Rubasingham’s launch season, she might have hoped her deputy Artistic Director Robert Hastie would get it back on track by directing a memorable modern dress Hamlet. Sadly, it was not to be. The Olivier Award-winning Hiran Abeysekera was thought by most reviewers to be fast and funny at the expense of the play’s depth. One bright point was the praise heaped on Francesca Mills’ Ophelia.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

For Debbie Gilpin at BroadwayWorld, ‘This is exactly the kind of Hamlet you would hope to see at The National Theatre. Challenging, entertaining, and compelling, it takes one of the most well-known plays in the English language and shows us something new.’ The main reason she was an outlier in her five star review is that she had a different opinion to other critics on Hiran Abeysekera’s hyperactive approach to the part: ‘We recognise now that grief can manifest itself in many different ways, so our titular prince doesn’t have to mope around and be visibly melancholic throughout the play; he can outwardly appear to be coping, whilst his interior monologue says all sorts of things. As an audience we are given an insight into this via his soliloquies, which almost spill out of him at times – Hiran Abeysekera’s Hamlet’s mind is working at 100mph as it tries to process everything that’s going on around him. There’s a ring of truth to this, as your mouth can often struggle to keep up with your brain in times of stress.’ She falls in line with the others in her opinion of Francesca Mills’ Ophelia: ‘her breakdown is all-consuming and visceral, the raw emotion from Mills enough to shatter even the iciest of hearts.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

‘It’s very funny but does it mean anything?’ wrote Andrjez Lukowksi at TimeOut, ‘I’m not sure it does. Abeysekera’s character basically seems to be ‘crazy guy’, which is entertaining scene to scene but it’s hard to remain sympathetic or invested in his fate as he ruins an ever increasing number of lives without a twinge of self-doubt.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis had this insight: ‘Hiran Abeysekera brings a manic, impulsive, boyish energy to Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Robert Hastie’s uneven production. It’s the first I’ve seen that implies the 30-year-old prince has ADHD or some similar disorder. This arguably makes sense of the character’s mood swings, his introspection and inertia, and his complete inability to read a room or recognise others’ emotional needs.’ As for the production as a whole:’Hastie’s interpretation is full of novel ideas and subtly revelatory touches but feels ponderous and staid overall.’

Anya Ryan for LondonTheatre picked out many qualities, such as: ‘Abeysekera is marvellous as the Danish prince – impish, breathless and full of new ideas. Visually, too, everything is done well.’ But she was confused: ‘It’s an active, pacy production that doesn’t pause for breath. And all of it makes for a perfectly pleasant night out at the theatre. But with so many ideas thrown at it with no explanation, it remains unclear what Hastie is actually trying to say.’

WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton disagreed: ‘Hastie has provided a handsome, clear-sighted production.’ However, ‘It’s original to see a Hamlet who isn’t a melancholic poet, but the disadvantage of the approach is that it strips the play of its thoughtful centre.’ She thought: ‘Francesca Mills’s Ophelia…brings this intelligent, thoughtful production to its most vivid life.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar agreed about Ophelia: ‘Mills …steals the show with her astonishing portrayal of Ophelia’. She summed up the production as ‘a well-put together, beautifully choreographed production but one with a frustrating emotional vacuum at its centre.’

Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph was disappointed with Hiran Abeysekera: ‘In broad terms, he contends capably with the heaving cargo of lines yet goes overboard with his frenzied attacks on the soliloquies, rushing trains of thought so you’re left short-changed of lyrical beauty and psychological insight. For all his charisma, the evening winds up fast-paced but fatally unmoving.’ ‘The noble idea implicit in the production that “anyone” can play Hamlet translates into something too conversationally workaday.’ Like others, he reserved his highest praise for a relatively minor part : ‘The true star of the night is Francesca Mills, who is an irresistible and irrepressible Ophelia, every line, and look, hits home. The actor, who has a form of dwarfism, commands the stage’.

The i’s Fiona Mountford started with praise: ‘Where Hastie scores most highly is in the sense of hurtling momentum that his slick and sinuous production creates’. She had mixed feelings about the star: ‘Abeysekera gives his tortured modern prince a manic energy and a smile of deep existential emptiness…but the performance is let down by the fact that he takes the soliloquies at an almighty lick, racing through “To be or not to be” with little sense of truth or profundity. This lack of gravitas creeps insidiously outwards to colour everything else’.

The Independent‘s Alice Saville took a different slant: ‘it does feel fitting that this Hamlet’s catharsis should come through laughter, not through mass murder. It creates a posh, slick, morally bankrupt vision of a court that takes nothing seriously, until they’re forced to. And in a theatre climate where showy, weighty revivals of Shakespeare with big stars and massive concepts are the norm, it’s a reminder that a lighter touch can be powerful, too.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

Dave Fargnoli of The Stage stuck the sword in. Here are some of the elements of the production he skewered: ‘After a taut, promisingly eerie opening sequence, the production loses momentum, lurching to a boisterous modern wedding scene full of recognisably awkward family interactions, then on to a half-hearted stab at the palace intrigue’; ‘Hiran Abeysekera is a manic, wild-eyed Hamlet, more stand-up comedian than prince. He races through his lines in a breathless blur, rarely pausing to consider the intention behind his words, but straining to turn everything into a joke as a defence mechanism, quipping and mugging to the audience’; ‘its lack of focus means it never grips as it should’.

The Times‘ Clive Davis was another strong critic: ‘Hiran Abeysekera spends so much time smirking and joshing with the audience that it’s hard to care what happens to him in that final duel.’ He still had fresh in his mind Giles Terera’s triumphant Hamlet in Chichester: ‘Abeysekera — who, to be fair, does look every bit the wayward student — possesses a thinner voice and rattles along at such a frantic tempo that the effect is like listening to a podcast where someone has been toying with the speed settings.’ He summed up: ‘we’re left with a fitful evening that lurches from one lush tableau to another.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.0⭑

Value rating 43

Hamlet can be seen at the National Theatre until 22 November 2025. Buy tickets direct from the theatre.

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