Heart-wrenching Hamlet: Tears worth spilt

National Theatre Live's Hamlet
Review by Andrea Vermaak

Hamlet (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Photo by John Persson

The stars – William Shakespeare, Benedict Cumberbatch and director Lyndsey Turner – have aligned to present National Theatre Live’s theatrical phenomena, Hamlet. Were it that Shakespeare were still alive to see his longest, and very likely most performed play with such life breathed into it that it instils a hushed awe of deeply emotional proportions in a captivated audience, he, like I, would weep.

I knew from the first scene that it was going to be intense, but amazing. Although I watched the live theatre performance from a Cinema Nouveau seat in Pretoria, South Africa, the atmospheric production was as great and intense an experience as sitting in the Barbican in London itself.

Hamlet (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Photo by Johan Persson

It’s as if Shakespeare knew that Cumberbatch was to play Hamlet, and wrote the role especially for him. Cumberbatch’s genius performance is heart-wrenching to the core. He takes on the immense role head-on, physically embracing the very essence of Hamlet’s loaded speeches. Hamlet’s frustration, anger, pain and grief visibly courses through Cumberbatch’s veins, leaving the audience in a pool of their own tears. During interval, a friend turned to me and said, eyes wide, “I can feel it.” All I could do was nod in agreement, rendered speechless at Cumberbatch’s magnificent performance. I can still feel it.

No matter how many times I’ve read or watched Hamlet, Cumberbatch introduced me to Hamlet as if for the first time. I now can’t imagine anyone else playing Hamlet but Cumberbatch. Give him all the awards possible.

Ophelia (Siân Brooke)

Photo by Johan Persson

New life is also breathed into the rest of the characters. No character is left to be pondered upon, but is as real and true as the stage on which the actors stand. Cornelius (Ciarán Hinds) and Gertrude (Anastasia Hill) are more infuriating than ever. Cornelius is perfectly showcased as the sinister king he is, while Gertrude’s weaknesses are left bare on her wedding feast table for all to see.

Laertes (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) is the definition of blood boiling, calculated action, counteracting Hamlet’s depressive procrastination and irrational actions perfectly. Siân Brooke embodies Ophelia’s innocence, confusion and mad grief like no other actress before her. Like Cumberbatch to Hamlet, Brooke climbs into Ophelia’s very soul and pulls her out, leaving the wretched maid exposed and raw as I’m sure Shakespeare intended.

Although brief, Karl Johnson’s performances as the Ghost of Hamlet’s father and the Gravedigger, is spine-chilling and endearing, respectively. Polonius (Jim Norton) is, for once, also somewhat endearing in his awkward ignorance and irritating incoherence, while Horatio (Leo Bill) is the ever loyal, but now also ‘hip’ friend everyone wants to have, making Hamlet as relevant for our times as it was when first performed in 1601.

Karl Johnson (Ghost of Hamlet's Father)
in Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre
Photo by Johan Persson

Turner’s use of modern costume and sets also makes Hamlet a suave and relevant production. Her flawless direction also does absolute justice to the masterpiece. She creates an ominous atmosphere through emotionally charged speech (only some may realise that the heart of the production, Hamlet's 'To be or not to be?' speech, is newly positioned in the script, yet cleverly adds to the dark atmosphere), magnificent visual artistry, and transitions as smooth and natural as the acting. Deep, thundering sound, and impressive lighting gives, like Cumberbatch’s performance, physical effect to the horror and grief that lies within Hamlet’s soul, leaving the audience unsettled. The moving set is what Aristotle would call spectacular, cleverly used to its utmost potential. In all, this production of Hamlet is mesmerising and magically breathtaking to say the very least.

Personally, this production of Hamlet left me weeping, but wanting more. I went to watch it twice, but would have gone to the cinema as many times as I could, had I the time and money. Some may call me a masochist, but I would gladly be left penniless and exhausted if I could watch this particular interpretation live. It stirred something deep within my subconscious, holding a mirror up to my inner Hamlet, though I’ve read Hamlet at least three times, and seen a few other interpretations of the play (yes, Hamlet is my soul brother; my spirit animal. Of this I am convinced). To put it bluntly, I was kicked in my already raw emotions, but it is the kind of catharsis I would gladly experience again.

Ciarán Hinds (Claudius) in Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre
Photo by Johan Persson

I could gush for eternity about this production, but I fear I would run out of adjectives, too many of which I have already used. I also fear that I may become as verbose as Polonius, if I am not so already. I will, however, leave you with this: Every time I encounter the Danish prince, I learn something new. Cumberbatch, Turner, as well as the rest of cast and crew, reminded me of everything I already knew and taught me everything I still need to learn about Hamlet. I am now fulfilled, although also heartbroken, in Hamlet. National Theatre Live’s Hamlet is a production of spectacular proportions that would leave even its author in tears.  

Gertrude (Anastasia Hille) and Hamlet (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Photo by Johan Persson

Images courtesy of National Theatre Live.

The Inklings: The University of Pretoria's Literary Society

Cast of She Stoops to Conquer
(Photo by Idette Noome, 2006)

The Inklings, the Literary Society of the University of Pretoria, is a dynamic group of students and alumni from various disciplines who have devoted much energy and time to promoting literature, creative writing and the amateur drama on the Tukkies campus, for over a quarter of a century. Many members have gone on to be successful academics, writers and actors, and have made their marks in various other professions too. In this way, the Inklings have contributed much to, and continue to make a mark in, arts and culture in South Africa.

The group was formed in 1982 and registered as a society on campus in 1985. It is one of the longest running societies on campus and possibly the only literary society to have survived this long on any South African campus.

Although the initial focus was more academic, the aims of the society became more broad over time. The Inklings is a space for people who enjoy literature to get together and enjoy reading, writing and socialising within a literary theme. Most importantly, the Inklings create a space for people who may be in other disciplines, but who also have a passion for these things, to enjoy them too.

The society started with a group of senior students who were interested in the Bloomsbury group. The late Professor Bill Maxwell-Mahon (then in the Department of English at Tuks and affectionately known as M²) encouraged the students to write a revue of the period to showcase their research. They decided to do a show on the period 1890 to 1914. They formed a group called ‘The Holists’, led by Wendy van der Stoep. In 1983, an eager group of Prof. M²’s first-year students took up the challenge to write and perform another revue, ‘You’ve gotta be joking (1914-1945)’. In 1984, the Holists wrote and performed ‘The Breakaway (1945-1960)’ and started a creative writing group. They then started working toward formally registering as a society on campus and finally registered under the new name ‘The Inklings’ in 1985. 

The name ‘The Inklings’ is a play on words. It includes the notion of ‘an inkling’, the society’s logo (an inkpot) and is a tribute to the original Inklings in Oxford, which included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Idette Noomé (née Skawran) was the first Chair of the Inklings (she was awarded the SRC medal for Best Chair in 1990 and is still Treasurer of the Inklings, having served the society in various capacities since 1985). She now lectures in the Department of English. Her contribution to the Inklings over the years has been invaluable, especially when it comes to keeping alive and guiding committee members in the true spirit of the society.

Creative Writing Workshop poster
(By Michelle Ganter, 2007)

The Inklings creative writing group was started to promote creative writing in English and Afrikaans and to provide a safe forum to expose one’s own writing. The third revue was collaborated on during the first meetings. Elizabeth Burroughs (née Nel), then a junior lecturer in the English Department, led some of the workshops. Since then, many of the weekly workshops have invited students from many disciplines to share ideas, poems and prose in an informal setting and give each other constructive criticism on how to hone their writing skills.

The creative writing group has organised several poetry competitions and feed Inclinations, a bilingual poetry and prose magazine. Inclinations was published from 1985 to 1996 to showcase the writing of students and other members, including lecturers and friends of the Inklings. Key to the publication is quality. The current committee is committed to reviving Inclinations.



Mort amateur production poster
(by Peter Hubbard, 2007)

The Inklings also produce at least one amateur drama production every year. They have performed over thirty sell-out productions over the years. The Inklings’ forté is comedy – some sparkling productions include Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, Androcles and the Lion, How He Lied to Her Husband and Pygmalion, Brandon Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt (from Brazil where the nuts come from…), P.G. Wodehouse and Ian Hay’s Leave It to Psmith, various Stoppard productions and some productions based on Terry Pratchett novels.

She Stoops to Conquer
(Photo by Idette Noome, 2006)

The Inklings have made a point of presenting plays and setworks seldom seen on the South African stage, including the classic Lysistrata by Aristophanes. Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, directed by Bonnie Kneen, is a favourite of last decade. Some Medieval and Renaissance plays were commissioned and performed for the South African Society of Medieval and Renaissance Studies’ international conferences, including The Second Shepherd's Pageant and Noah's Flood, Doctor Faustus by Marlowe, Everyman and Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Last year,  Betrayal by Harold Pinter was acted in three different versions.



Betrayal
(Photos by Stephanie Carlsson and Heather McLachlan, 2010)

The Inklings’ productions give most members involved an opportunity to gain experience in a diverse number of related fields, including administration, front-of-house, back-stage, ticket sales, wardrobe, lighting and sound, besides writing, directing and acting. The society has also premiered a few plays written by members.



A number of  actors and writers who started out with the Inklings have gone on to make their mark in a bigger arena. Among them are Anton Robert Krueger, award-winning dramatist and novelist, now lecturing drama at Rhodes. Aside from starring in a number of Inklings productions, his In the Velvet City and In the Blue Beaker premiered with the Inklings. His plays have been staged in South Africa, as well as in England, Wales, Australia, the U.S.A., Monaco, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. Anton’s Living in Strange Lands (also known as Tsafendas), a play about Hendrik Verwoerd's assassin Dimitri Tsafendas, was awarded a special trophy by the South African Community Theatre Association in 2001, and was nominated for South Africa’s highest stage award, the FNB/Vita prize. His most recent achievement is his novella Sunnyside Sal.

Other past members who have made a name for themselves include Annelize Nienaber, advocate and professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, who has co-edited the book Plain language for a new democracy, and has published research related to a variety of human rights issues; the late Werner Viljoen, former Perdeby editor, who worked for CODESA; Sarel van Vuuren, whose voice, reporting for SABC news is familiar to all; Stephen Naudé, Managing Director at Pearson Education; Elizabeth le Roux, formerly of the Africa Institute and Unisa Press; Adalbert Ernst, Cape Town anaesthetist, and many more.

The acting experience gained with the Inklings has inspired some to take this pastime more seriously: Stewart Clegg is now acting professionally in the UK, Danie Struwig has also gone professional, and Peter Hubbard, who has had several lead roles in Inkling productions, now acts in his spare time for two amateur production companies in Amsterdam, one of which, the Queen's English Theatre Company, has produced The History Boys in Amsterdam and in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival in August 2010.  



The Inklings' social events are always based on a literary theme. Events include picnics and dinner parties, such as a white picnic at the Union Buildings, a Shakespeare in Love Valentine's dinner, a Great Gatsby dinner party, a Narnia ‘kid’s’ luncheon and a 1950’s party. During such okkasies, members dress according to the theme, indulge in a delicious, theme-based, home-cooked meal and appreciate like-minded company. One the society's great strengths – its most enriching privilege –is that everybody in it values intellect without any airs, quirkiness and eccentricity without pretentiousness. It is a place where people with brains can be themselves and be liked for it!

  



1920s Jazz Party
(Photo by Andrea Vermaak, 2010)



The Inklings wish to continue their tradition of promoting arts and culture in the spirit of friendship and fun, giving anyone who is interested a chance to express him- or herself through writing or performing arts, and gain experience in various related fields without any pressure. Although the Inklings may be a small group of mostly UP students, it is an essential group which contributes much to academics, literature and stage in South Africa, with friendships and abiding ties that last long after its members leave university.



Anyone who has a great appreciation for the literary arts and loves to indulge in its beauty as an art form is welcome to join the Inklings. UP students may register as members, while members of the public are also welcome to get involved in the fun and support the society.

Join the Inklings’ Facebook page to keep up-to-date with news, socials events, creative writing workshops and productions: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_2262130317

Words by Andrea Vermaak and Idette Noomé