And people do go mad with astonishing speed in this play. The girl he loves, Ophelia, has been ordered by her father Polonius, a cohort of the new king, to keep her distance from the unstable prince. He must avenge his father's 'murder most foul.' He hates his uncle. Hamlet, already depressed by his father's death, is now in a spasm of indecision, rage and impotence. The action begins with the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father (Brian Blessed), outlining his murder at the hand of his brother, Claudius, who added insult to injury by marrying the randy queen not two months after the killing.

Great Britain's John Gielgud, Judi Dench, Rosemary Harris, John Mills and Richard Attenborough play small roles, too. Kate Winslet is an affecting Ophelia, barred by her father Polonius (Richard Briers) from consorting with Hamlet, the man she loves. Derek Jacobi, one of England's greatest performers, is Claudius, the man who has given Hamlet nightmares ever since he murdered the prince's father and married his mother. The seldom-seen Julie Christie, doing the best acting of her career (and her first Shakespeare), is Gertrude, Hamlet's unthinkingly treacherous mother. The larger parts were cast with great seriousness. 'Much Ado About Nothing.' (Keanu Reeves comes to mind.)īut playful casting does not a movie make, and these are only small roles. The unusual casting works here the way it didn't always in And Jack Lemmon is a befuddled Marcellus, friend to Hamlet and Horatio. How can it not be with Billy Crystal as the word-playing gravedigger and Robin Williams as Osric, a shy soldier? And how about that great towering ham Charlton Heston as the Player King, the lead actor in the play-within-the-play? Gerard Depardieu is the servant Reynaldo, whose short scene requires that he utter the phrase 'My Lord' repeatedly even though his French tongue stumbles over the English L.

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