Only recently, I realized my introduction to William Shakespeare dates back not to a sweaty seventh-period Seminole High School classroom, conducted by the stern but encouraging language arts teacher Sarah Allen. No: It was a cavalier, anthropomorphic gray-and-white rabbit who first brought the Bard of Avon’s works to my attention one nondescript Saturday morning in the early 1970s. The precise conduit was the short 1959 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon “A Witch’s Tangled Hare,” repackaged and presented as part of “The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.” Written by Michael Maltese and directed by Abe Levitow, the cartoon — which features Bugs Bunny (voiced by Mel Blanc) and Witch Hazel (voiced by June Foray) — casts Bugs as a Shakespearian playwright who must match wits with a castle-dwelling witch eager to toss the rabbit into her boiling cauldron. As the story progresses, there are several references to plays written by Shakespeare, including “Macbeth,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “As You Like It,” and “Hamlet.”
Still, it was Allen — along with other SHS teachers — who inspired a lifelong love of his stylized utilization of Elizabethan English, the virtuosity of his wordplay, his dramatic intensity and his comic relief. Much later, I had the good fortune to renew my admiration and enhance my understanding of Shakespeare’s works in a course at USF taught by Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Ph.D.
Shakespeare wrote “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” at the dawn of the 17th century, with the earliest known surviving version dating to 1603. More than 400 years later, it is still considered one of the most influential and powerful tragedies in the English language. A bold new adaptation demonstrates the play’s versatility, easily allowing it to transcend traditional cultural boundaries while ensuring its profound themes remain valid and relevant. This new version of “Hamlet,” directed by Aneil Karia and written by Michael Lesslie, was released in select theaters on April 10 through Vertical.
Karia’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy sets the action within London’s modern elite South Asian community. As the film opens, a somber Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) attends his father’s funeral. Soon after, Hamlet is visited by his father’s unsettled ghost, who reveals the death was not caused by illness: Hamlet’s father (Avijit Dutt) was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius (Art Malik), who now plans to marry Hamlet’s newly widowed mother, Gertrude (Sheeba Chaddha). The ghost entreats Hamlet to avenge this villainous act. It is an appeal that will gradually expose the corruption that blights the family’s empire and send Hamlet on an inescapable downward spiral of grief and wrath.
In most conventional productions of “Hamlet,” the setting is the eerie, stifling Elsinore Castle in Denmark, often presented as a formidable but austere stronghold with ill-lit ramparts, claustrophobic chambers, and shadowy corridors where all manner of treacherous and nefarious schemes might unfold. Karia’s Elsinore is lavish and effulgent, emphasizing the family’s prosperity and power. But beneath the well-appointed décor and plush extravagance, there is a sense of festering putrefaction. The opulence cannot wholly conceal that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
This Hamlet parties at nightclubs, drives fast expensive cars, and can clearly afford the services of a licensed mental health professional to assist with processing grief. Unfortunately, that is not the path he chooses. The titular character unravels as Shakespeare intended. Most of the time, Ahmed’s portrayal of Hamlet is as fresh as it is convincing. There are long stretches, however, when the actor’s attempts to vocalize his deteriorating emotional state effectively smother the eloquence of Shakespeare’s words.
Oh: If I hadn’t mentioned it, the film retains the original Elizabethan English.
This adaptation of “Hamlet” does significantly condense the story. For instance, you won’t find Hamlet’s foil and sounding board, Horatio. The ghost of Hamlet’s father only materializes once, and only Hamlet sees him. There’s no Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to interject pragmatic banter in between intense scenes. In fact, there is conspicuous absence of comic relief: The Gravedigger scene has been cut, and Hamlet’s exchanges with Polonius (Timothy Spall) are played with unexpected hostility instead of mocking ridicule. Polonius, too, undergoes something of a revision, with this version depicting him as a machinating courtier rather than a long-winded busybody trying to protect his daughter Ophelia (Morfydd Clark) from becoming a victim of Hamlet’s compounding mental instability.
In other words, this “Hamlet” is not perfect. But, wow, when everything clicks, it is fantastic. One of the film’s most impressive sequences is the play-within-a-play (Act 3, Scene 2), when Hamlet has a theater troupe stage “The Murder of Gonzago” so he can observe his uncle for signs of guilt. Recasting it using traditional Kathak dancers is a brilliant cultural transformation. Likewise, having Hamlet careening down a motorway at excessive speeds in his BMW while delivering his famous “To be, or not to be” speech charges the monologue with penetrating urgency.
In Karia’s adaptation, Hamlet’s famous indecision is minimized. Once he is aware of his father’s murder, he leans into a settling of scores. From a contemporary perspective, Hamlet’s epiphany is an acknowledgement of long-established corruption that he had previously overlooked. Ahmed accurately depicts that realization and conveys the character’s ensuing trajectory toward the inevitable tragedy.
This adaptation is unequivocally obligatory for Shakespeare fans. Those with little enthusiasm for the Bard of Avon’s works won’t likely be won over by this production. In fact, given its abridgment, anyone unfamiliar with “Hamlet” may have difficulty following this version.
So, do your homework and read some Shakespeare.
Lee Clark Zumpe is entertainment editor at Tampa Bay Newspapers, a Tomatometer-Approved Critic, and an author of short fiction. He can be reached by email at lzumpe@TBNweekly.com.