Review: Andrew Scott Is Vulnerable And Charming Hamlet

Hamlet at The Almeida ★★★★★

By Johnny Fox Last edited 84 months ago

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Review: Andrew Scott Is Vulnerable And Charming Hamlet Hamlet at The Almeida 5
Andrew Scott as Hamlet at The Almeida.

If you can get a ticket, we think you'd love the Almeida Hamlet, even if you're not specifically lusting after Andrew Scott (Moriarty from Sherlock) pitching to rival Cumberbatch’s star turn in the same role.

This is Shakespeare for the Borgen generation — a slick and surveillance-heavy visual on a cool penthouse set, where Juliet Stevenson’s splendid dirty dancing Gertrude can shag Claudius on a couch while the Norwegian ambassador paces the corridor.

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Enjoy cute turns of Amaka Okafor and Calum Finlay as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or Jessica Brown Findlay's bathtub-dunking Ophelia; but although you could ice a cake during some of his pauses, it's Scott's softly-spoken, vulnerable and charming Dubliner Dane that holds your gaze and speaks the famous lines completely afresh, and as if to only you.  

Hamlet, Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, N1 1TA £10-38, until 15 April. Tickets are sold out, but a small number of day-seats are released at 11am every day to people queuing at the box office.

Last Updated 01 March 2017