Hamlet / Kline, New York Shakespeare Festival (1990)

Simply the Best

I saw this production when our local PBS station aired it over 17 years ago and I never forgot it. I was thrilled to find it on DVD. Costuming is understated, contemporary and the focus of Kevin Kline's minimal set designs is the lighting (mood) rather than overproduced dressings which are inconsequential here when the stength in this "HAMLET" are the actors; their hands, eyes, posture, movement, voice, inflections absorb and hold you with completeness. There is no distraction because it is obvious Kevin Kline decided that less was more in his interpretation and he knew exactly what he was talking about. It is Simple and SIMPLY the best! September 14, 2008

Kline is famous but not the best

The production is well organized and well filmed and generally well acted, but I find Kline's Hamlet slow & indulgent, technically tearful but ultimately unconnected. Get your hands on Derek Jacobi's for some real excitement. March 28, 2007

I've Waited For This For Over 10 Years

As it says in my profile, I love almost everything Shakespearian. I saw this production on PBS's Great Performances, back in 1990, & I've been looking for it in some form ever since. So when I found it on DVD at Amazon.com I leaped at it.

Hamlet (Kevin Kline) Prince of Denmark, returns home when his father is killed. There he learns that his ambitious uncle has married the widdowed Queen & claimed Hamlet's throne for himself. Haunted by his father's ghost & his own need for revenge, Hamlet's torment leads to the most inspired poetry in all of Shakespeare.

I loved the modern dress & that there are some African-American cast members.

The only problem I find with the DVD is that there are no real special features. They give you a filmography of the cast, but that's it.

But the play is brilliant! Well worth the price! August 6, 2006

Mixed Matter

I have mixed feelings about this Hamlet; there are some things about it I emphatically do not like, and others I emphatically do like.

I DO like the fashion in which is was cut. Rozencrantz & Guildenstern, for instance, were kept in, as well as Fortinbras. There are important scenes and stories with both so I was glad to see them there.

I also like Kevin Kline's Hamlet. At first I thought I wouldn't, because in his first scene ("little more than kin & less than kind"), he didn't seem bitter enough to my taste. I also though that, as an actor, Kline sometimes over did the crying. But as he eased into the role and I grew used to it, I began to like his interpretation. He was very good at personifying Hamlet's merry but oh so bitter madness.

Everyone else was, I thought, well cast, which the exception of Ophelia. How lamentable, especially when her brother was so well played! Apparently she was trying to give a new interpretation of an Ophelia more wayward and rebellious than usual...but Shakespeare wrote Ophelia, and he made her gentle,not wild (until that madness sets in and that's for contrast); timid, not self-assured. "I will the effect of this good lesson keep" was spoken with sarcasm! Sarcasm to Laertes from Ophelia? What is the point in life? Admirably, however, Laertes and Hamlet both played their scenes with her excellently in spite of her shortcomings. There was a LOT of physical action during Hamlet's scenes both with his mother & Ophelia; a bit more than I'm used to, but it seems to be Kline's strong point.

I have to admit that modern dress in Shakespeare always gets under my skin. Why are they in post-victorian dress and speaking in "thees & thous"? The grandeur of Elizabethan costume that so sweeps the audience in is not good enough for them? But this Hamlet was very well performed, and though the clothing still clashes with its historical context, I had forgotten about it fifteen minutes into the play.

Oh, dear, I'm giving this four stars. I'm just so in love with Hamlet I can't nitpick such a good production apart. This is excellent, maybe not for a first viewing (and I only say that because of Ophelia), but a definite should-see. September 23, 2005

From the Broadway theater archive

William Shakespeare's Hamlet directed and starring Kevin Kline.

We have seen this play many times, sometimes abridged, and many adoptions by various artists and groups, such as Sir Laurence Oliver, Richard Burton, Dame Judith Anderson, Nicol Williamson, Richard Chamberlain, Derek Jacobi, Campbell Scott, Mel Gibson, even (icky poo) Ethan Hawke. Each brings a unique plus that makes it hard to say which is best. And threatened to be played by Shelley Long in "Outrageous Fortune"

That said Kevin Kline is top notch. One attribute is that this version seemingly uncut is spoken clear. Maybe because it is a stage version filmed close enough that they did not have to shout.

When Kevin builds up in the close-up you forget all the trivial things like Hamlets age. And you actually feel that you are there.

Prince Hamlet loses his father the king. It is unnerving to him that his mother should marry his uncle so soon that the funeral baked meat set the wedding table. Then comes the shocker. His father's ghost suggested that the uncle and wife did him in while asleep. How will hamlet handle this news and what consequence will it have on the people around him?

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead May 13, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...