Eddie Izzards breakneck solo 'Hamlet' opts for cracking good storytelling over subtlety
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To be or not to be, that is the question for a solo version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”Eddie Izzard, the wry, gender-fluid British comedian who came to attention with a stream of observational drollery that picked away at common sense, takes on the whole teeming tragedy.This Shakespearean traveling show, now at the Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood through Saturday, is a daredevil feat of memory, theatrical bravado and cardio fitness.As a spectacle, it’s as exhilarating as it is exhausting.
The thrill of seeing a fearless, indefatigable performer single-handedly populate the stage with the myriad figures of this masterwork never lets up.But fatigue can’t help setting in once it becomes clear that this marathon drama will be delivered in the broadest of strokes.
The plot’s the thing for Izzard, who brought a solo version of Charles Dickens’ similarly sprawling “Great Expectations” to the stage.Izzard has won praise as a dramatic actor, excelling in plays by David Mamet and Peter Nichols, but here seems content to stick to story-time mode.
The striking aspect of this “Hamlet,” directed by Selina Cadell on a bare stage, is just how straightforward it is.There are few scenic accouterments other than some fabulously eerie lighting, suspenseful sound effects and heavy-handed underscoring.
Izzard’s costume, evening wear built for battle, had me imagining Margaret Thatcher at Studio 54 in the early 1980s.The adaptation by Mark Izzard (Izzard’s brother who also adapted “Great Expectations”) strives to cram in as much of the play as possible, even if it means that for long stretches Izzard must deliver Shakespeare’s lines at breakneck speed.A structurally remodeled “Hamlet” with a minimalist bent would have made more sense.
But that would require an interpretive vision that the cuts, rearrangements and distracting instances of rewording fail to supply....