If you thought Hamlet’s prospects were bleak, then spare a thought for Suzy Eddie Izzard, whose valiant attempt to play all the characters in this contemporary reworking of Shakespeare’s classic tale has gone down like an egg sandwich on a rush-hour subway.
After a positive response in New York, the versatile actor, comedian and activist has embarked on what is arguably an overly ambitious undertaking at London’s Riverside Studios, with British fans flocking to see him perform one of the best plays of the Great Bard. achievements.
Over the course of a painstaking two hours, twenty minutes and five lengthy acts, Izzard, 62, plays every character, from the ultimately doomed Hamlet to the Danish monarchs Claudius and Gertrude, Polonius, Horace and Ophelia; Hell, he even addresses the ghost of Hamlet’s father.
It’s fitting then that critics are more chilled than delighted by Izzard’s latest project, which arrives on the heels of Andrew Scott’s solo take on Anton Chekhov’s Vanya and Succession star Sarah Snook’s solo take on The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
But while Scott and Snook garnered critical acclaim (the latter also won a prestigious Olivier Award for Best Actress), Izzard’s performance fell pretty short among unimpressed critics.
If you thought Hamlet’s prospects were bleak, then spare a thought for Suzy Eddie Izzard, whose one-woman performance of William Shakespeare’s most ambitious play has been heavily criticized.
Caddell hugged Izzard as the tragedy, Shakespeare’s longest and arguably most challenging play, came to an end Sunday.
While he admits that his not inconsiderable undertaking is a “marathon achievement,” The Guardian He also states that it resembles “an avant-garde cabaret, at other times like a Shakespearean ‘bedroom mirror’, which perhaps should have remained that way.”
“There is humor, but it comes from Izzard’s comic gestures or added lines (“tedious old fool,” says Hamlet of Polonius) rather than from Shakespeare’s acid satire on Polonius or Hamlet’s puns and mischievous disposition. “.
They add: “The most frustrating thing is that Izzard uses the same tone for all the characters, from Claudius to Gertrude to Hamlet himself, and unlike (Andrew) Scott’s Vanya, she doesn’t give the characters any idiosyncrasies, so those who do not know this text well are very likely to leave it at sea.
Giving the work two disappointing stars, the i paper writes: ‘From the start, it’s evident that Izzard’s vision is simply too frenetic, little more than a brilliant vanity project, an impressive feat of line learning.
Izzard’s brother Mark, who has adapted and pruned the text, fatally seems to equate length with boredom and rhythm with clarity, but I doubt that any viewer not already familiar with Hamlet will emerge from the hectic confusion of this two-plus hour interval. long before. wiser as to why this is the Mount Everest of canonical works.
Izzard takes the stage months after a similar assignment in a one-man performance of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and the Evening Standard They quickly made unfavorable comparisons between the two performances.
In a withering assessment, they dismiss it as “an act of colossal vanity and arrogance, based on the slightest artistic justification.” It’s worse than Izzard’s horrible Great Expectations solo last year, which at least had a first-person framed narrative.
Offering a much more generous three stars, The Telegraph praised Izzard’s energy while offering mild criticism of the overall performance.
Suzy Eddie Izzard received a round of applause Sunday after the opening night of her one-woman show on Broadway.
Actress Selina Caddell (left), writer Mark Izzard (center) and actor Suzy Eddie Izzard (right) accepted their respective bouquets of flowers after taking a bow at the Greenwich House Theater in New York City following the release of the work in February.
They write: ‘Overall, it is an impressive feat of memory, control and endurance. Still, something is a little wrong in the state of a production when the soliloquies (however sane and sad and sincere they may be, with some hint of ham and smell of James Mason) are less striking than the incidental ones: the fun business with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – conveyed, literally, by pure work of art – the disturbing and shocking account of Ophelia’s sad song and the gravedigger’s mischievous talk, reminiscent of Cook and Moore.
“The company closes the circle: Eddie looks nothing like a Dane, a little like a lady and a lot like an old theater actor; a figure with a certain tragic capacity, yes, but a guy, finally and in the most adorable, of infinite capabilities”. joke.’
The times He adds: ‘At times there is an affably portentous tone of old-school classical acting. However, fatally, working alone Izzard cannot bear the tension, the heat, the discomfort, the longing. You understand everything, but you don’t believe a word. The result is both virtuous and deeply boring.
“It’s hard to know what else the director, Selina Cadell, the movement director, Didi Hopkins, and the designer, Tom Piper, could do that gives Izzard an empty room of pale marble to play in.”
Hamlet, Shakespeare’s longest and arguably most challenging play, finds Izzard taking on a variety of diverse characters, including soldiers, ghosts, kings, queens, footmen, princes, and courtiers.
Izzard originally performed the play at New York City’s Greenwich House Theater in February, with the comedian performing each part alone from a revised script written by her brother, Mark.
And it received a positive response from American viewers: Izzard, Mark and actress Selina Cadell, who directs the play, accepted their respective bouquets of flowers after bowing.
“It’s a great challenge, but there’s no point in living and not facing challenges,” Izzard told the Associated Press shortly before announcing the work. ‘You are right at the limit of your abilities and you are advancing even further.
‘I want it so 10-year-olds can grab it. I want it for people who don’t find Shakespeare easy, like I did when he was a dyslexic kid.
Caddell, whose diverse film and television career includes roles in The Catherine Tate Show, Victoria Wood, Doc Martin and The Madness Of King George, added: “I have always loved playing complex and challenging characters, and Hamlet is the ultimate.
‘This is a production for everyone, a timeless drama with an accidental hero. Selina, Mark and I want audiences to see and hear an accessible, moving, terrifying and dramatic Hamlet.”
