If someone goes to the trouble of memorizing a 2 ½-hour chunk of Hamlet and manages to play nearly two dozen roles (the program includes a cheat sheet), it seems churlish to fault them – in this case her – for not supplying sufficiently distinctive characterizations.
The feat that was Izzard’s Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations two seasons ago has not been bested here. Where the Dickens classic came peopled with hilarious caricatures, Izzard is working now within a more limited palette. On the surface, the palace crowd is not all that colorful – unlike Tom Piper’s box of a set (stucco walls punctuated with arrow-slit windows), which proves a veritable lava lamp of shifting hues, thanks to lighting designer Tyler Elich. Composer Eliza Thompson provides the Medieval-ish musical riffs that mark scene breaks.
If only Izzard were as assertive in distinguishing the courtiers. She’s moving fast, typically switching roles with a sidestep, jump, or spin (movement direction by Didi Hopkins). The audience comes bearing great expectations, of course: We think we have the story down cold and can anticipate the high points. At best, this condensed rendering (adapted by Eddie’s brother, Mark Izzard) allows us to ponder subtext and quirks that can go unnoticed amid a full staging.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
Izzard’s outfit (styled by Tom Piper and Libby da Costa) is nearly identical to her Dickens costume, minus the puffy shirt: black redingote atop tight black-leather pants and lace-up boots. Heavy false eyelashes and pointy red press-on nails complete the look.
The Greenwich House Theater is intimate (Izzard repeatedly explores the aisles and balcony mid-performance), and at first the eyelashes seem a bit of overkill, blunting the expressivity of her eyes. The nails seemed overly attention-grabbing as well – until they came into play, as Izzard’s hands become puppet figures representing those toadying, scheming schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Not since Tom Stoppard accorded them their own play in 1966 have the pair enjoyed such a starring role. Every appearance elicits an irrepressible laugh.
The play itself is far from a laugh fest, yet Izzard unfortunately fails to plumb the full pathos of the two key female figures. His Ophelia is unfailingly demure, even when calling out Hamlet’s duplicity, and Gertrude comes across as an easily chastened matron.
The gravediggers? These two, Izzard pulls off brilliantly; ditto for his graveside Hamlet, contemplating skulls. That we get to be in the theatre as Izzard probes Shakespeare’s text is a privilege not to be discounted.
Eddie Izzard Performs Shakespeare’s Hamlet opened February 11, 2024, at Greenwich House Theater and runs through March 16. The production will then move to the Orpheum Theatre, opening March 19 and running through April 14. Tickets and information: eddieizzardhamlet.com
