The Hindu : Miscellaneous / This Day That Age : dated April 28, 1954: Hamlet at Museum Theatre

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Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - This Day That Age

dated April 28, 1954: Hamlet at Museum Theatre

In staging "Hamlet" on April 26 at the Museum Theatre, the Press Club of Madras fulfilled Carlyle's prophecy that Shakespeare will survive the British Empire. The show compared favourably with performances witnessed in recent years, one that was sponsored by the British Council and the film with Laurence Olivier in the chief role. More than forty years ago there was an English company in Madras, in which Alan Wilke played Hamlet. He was too heavy and oldish for his part. Laurence Olivier was too brisk and business-like to satisfy the Indian conception of Hamlet. The Hamlet at the Museum Theatre seemed quite appropriate.

In the film version Hamlet demeans himself with eavesdropping, but the Prince (R. Ramaswamy) now showed his suspicions in a reasonable way in the nunnery scene. In the film version, both the Queen and Ophelia seemed to fall off from their Shakespearean stature. But Santha Rungachary and Nalini restored it. The Queen's sobbing response to Hamlet's indictment in the bedroom scene was a piece of perfect acting. Claudius was personated by S. Hariharan. Horatio (R. Parthasarathi) was quite good, though his bottom-like look roused laughter sometimes. A special word of praise is due to S.K. Gurunathan who played Polonius.

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