Hamlet and As You Like It

Playwright: William Shakespeare Directors: Federay Holmes and Elle While Shakespeare’s Globe, London SE1 (020-7401 9919). Until 26 August Running times: Hamlet: 2hrs 45mins (incl. interval) As You Like It: 2hrs 45mins (incl. interval)

It’s all change at the Globe, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. The new artistic director is Michelle Terry, whose first two productions are a mix of “the good, the bad and the plain cuckoo”. A genderbalanced ensemble of actors have been rehearsing for three months in a spirit of democratic egalitarianism, with two directors guiding proceedings. The results are most notable for the plethora of cross-gender casting. “As You Like It? It’s as they damn well please.” We get a male Rosalind, far taller than her female Orlando; a female Hamlet, a male Ophelia. “Some will fume that it’s a case of never mind the quality, feel the quota – poetry sacrificed on the altar” of a new orthodoxy. Yet the mood is “more tongue-in-cheek than that, more joyful”. Overall, one could say that it’s a reasonably “promising start”.

It’s certainly a “welcome relief” from the ill-starred previous regime of Emma Rice, said Michael Billington in The Guardian. Even so, I’d call it a “worthwhile experiment” that hasn’t quite worked. The Hamlet is lacklustre: though Terry herself gives a decent performance as the prince, her adoption of a clown costume is an all too obvious way of signalling Hamlet’s assumed madness. And one gets no sense of Elsinore as a place of eavesdropping corruption. “The brute fact is that Shakespeare’s plays benefit from star performers and the inspirational vision of a firstrate director.” Actually, there are a few fine performances, notably Helen Schlesinger as Gertrude, said Sarah Hemming in the FT. But otherwise it’s a struggle.

If Hamlet disappoints, As You Like It works a treat, said Paul Taylor in The Independent – a “gloriously oddball” production that is wonderfully on the play’s gender-bending wavelength. Jack Laskey’s very funny performance as a hopelessly besotted Rosalind has a “star quality”, said Ann Treneman in The Times. And the casting of Nadia Nadarajah, who is deaf, as a non-verbal Celia, also works a treat: “her mimes are often hilarious”. In sum, the As You Like It is “rather special”, but with Hamlet one fears the whole project has gone awry. “To be or not to be? Hmm, jury’s out, I’m afraid.”

The week’s other opening

Red Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London WC2 (0844-482 5120). Until 28 July Michael Grandage’s well-judged revival of John Logan’s play about Mark Rothko and his assistant features a “towering performance” from Alfred Molina, and makes for an “invigorating” 90 minutes (Guardian).