The Bard Blender

I first heard that Jude Law was doing Hamlet a little over a week ago (I think, I've always been bad with keeping track of the passage of time).  At that time I looked up production pictures and thought it looked very interesting.  The cast is in plain clothes, the stage is bare save for the brick wall that serves as a back drop, and there are even Snow flurries during the "To be or not to be" speech, making his debate all the more bleak.  But even then as I saw small clips I thought, "He seems to be overdoing it a little.  but it is Jude Law, perhaps he's making it work like that."

But apparently he's not.  According the article I read in the New York Times and according to the link above, a lot of other critics as well, characterize his performance in athletic terms.  Most people think his hamlet is completely over acted.  The best thing that the reviewer could afford it was that Jude Law's mass appeal drew in an much younger audience.  That alone is a big plus.  But surely it's not that bad.

Ultimately, I don't know and I wont because I can't go up to New York to see it.  But really,  I don't think that his Hamlet can be so bad as to ruin the play.  Critics often are overly critical and a high intensity hamlet is probably what he is intentionally going for. 

I promise that later I will get back to Ovid.  Don't worry.