Sir, – Further to Peter Crawley's review ("The most dangerous Hamlet ever?", September 29th), I have to agree with Susan Knight (September 30th) and Nicholas Grene (October 2nd) on how disappointing the recent performance of Hamlet by the Berliner Schaubühne was. What really showed up the inadequacies of the production was the contrast between the power of Shakespeare's language in the surtitles and the rather workaday and humdrum language of the translation put in the mouths of the actors. Part of the explanation for the inadequacies may lie in remarks by two of the actors in the question and answer session on the second night. One complained about how difficult it was for actors to get a response from German audiences — in contrast to non-German audiences. Presumably the production has been developed – quite legitimately – with this characteristic of German audiences in mind.
It appears also that there have been in the region of 230 performances of the production to date – so perhaps it’s inevitable that subtleties that were originally in the production have disappeared over time. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN CALLAGHAN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Prof Grene, in his letter about the extraordinary Schaubühne production of Hamlet, protests too much. Whatever about the director's aim to "violate" Hamlet, his production seems to me to capture the essential theme of the play.
In a sense, the graveyard scene offers us the central image of the play and the daring director reminds us constantly of this, as does the text. When Hamlet’s final words ring out, we know that they apply not only to him alone, but to all of us, together: “the rest is silence”. A daring production, yes. But it had to be done.
About one thing I would agree with Prof Grene. People, in general, give standing ovations too readily. I stood myself, but what do you do if you’re only five foot two? – Yours, etc,
GERRY MURTAGH,
Foxrock,
Dublin 18.