Hamlet (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold)

Chosen as Clwyd Theatr Cymru artistic director Terry Hands's swansong before he steps down after 17 years in April, Hamlet is a triumph he should be rightly proud of.

Hands knows his Shakespeare: he was artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1978-91 and brings all his experience into this one final production at Mold. And you can tell that his vision is to focus on the text and not dress it up with elaborate sets and costumes. The play is the play, and Shakespeare's words are what drives it.

Lee Haven-Jones makes for a mercurial, sympathetic Hamlet, emerging at first as a brooding presence mourning the death of his father, but gradually becoming more and more confused and obsessed until that famous final scene in which crimes are avenged and very few characters are left standing. Like a scene from Game of Thrones, the carnage and devastation Hamlet visits upon his family and associates in the final act is violent, emotional and highly charged.

One of Haven-Jones's strongest depictions of the crazed Prince of Denmark is with his mother Gertude, in which he pleads with her not to take up with her former brother-in-law, Claudius. He is passionate and unsettling, and the action between Haven-Jones and Carol Royle is charged with danger and a disconcertingly sexual undercurrent which has you holding your breath.

Simon Dutton was obvious casting for the treacherous Claudius, so suited is he to these authority figure roles, while Daniel Llewelyn-Williams - recent winner of the Best Actor category at the Wales Theatre Awards - turns in a nuanced performance as Laertes, at first joyful and light, and later dark and vengeful following the death of his beloved sister Ophelia.

Ah yes, Ophelia... As in tradition, she dies off stage, but we can imagine how it looked, thanks to the elegant Royle's beautifully delivered description of the crow flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples, coupled in our mind's eye with Millais's Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece Ophelia. Caryl Morgan is wonderfully unhinged in Ophelia's descent into madness, singing rhymes and songs and handing out flowers to her loved ones and not-so-loved ones: pansies, columbine, fennel and that all-important rue. A fantastic, compact performance.

Hands has opted for a minimalist design palette to concentrate the audience on the text, but the stark, shiny, onyx-like stage and sliding flats create some arresting reflections, particularly when the characters are dressed in white and the theatre lights blaze upon them. The empty set adds size and scale to the play, capable of portraying indoors as well as out, and the judicious use of lighting adds another layer of sheen to the piece. Spotlights and pools of illumination pinpoint the set-pieces, and at the end we have blazing braziers to corner the stage, illustrating the fire in Hamlet's belly and Laertes's stricken heart.

Terry Hands's Hamlet is a masterful demonstration of how Shakespeare's work can be brought to a new audience simply by telling the story as written. No extravagant ballrooms or eerie graveyards or jarring modern day clothes to distract or enhance. Simply the text as written, performed by a dedicated and well-rehearsed cast at the top of their game, led by a man who has been at the top of his game for longer than many could ever wish for.

Clwyd Theatr Cymru will miss Terry Hands, but he has certainly leaving with an impressive farewell. That it should come to this...

The stats
Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Terry Hands
Cast: Wayne Cater (Osric); Roger Delves-Broughton (Polonius); Simon Dutton (Claudius); Richard Elfyn (Horatio); Owain Gwynn (Fortinbras); Lee Haven-Jones (Hamlet); Guy Lewis (Guildenstern); Daniel Llewelyn-Williams (Laertes); Caryl Morgan (Ophelia); Sion Pritchard (Rosencrantz); Simon Holland Roberts (Player/ Gravedigger); Carol Royle (Gertrude); Liam Tobin (Captain)
Performed at Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, February 5 to March 7. 2015. Performance reviewed: February 10, 2015.

Links
Hamlet on Clwyd Theatr Cymru website (retrieved Feb 11 2015)
Hamlet: the entire play (retrieved Feb 11 2015)
Hamlet on SparkNotes (retrieved Feb 11 2015)
Promotional trailer for Clwyd Theatr Cymru production (retrieved Feb 11 2015)