Simon Russell Beale's Hamlet is played as inherently sweet and changed by the inevitable situation around him. Beale states that, "Hamlet's father, in a rather unpaternal fashion, signs his son's death-warrant...and Hamlet must die" (Beale 149). Beale argues that if Hamlet had returned to school, and had been surrounded by his friends there, the entirety of the play may not have happened and Hamlet would have been able to recover.
When asked about his Hamlet Beale states, "The fact is that the Hamlet that emerged from our rehearsal room was sweeter, gentler, perhaps meeker, than I had expected, and I felt I had to stick to him" (Beale 153). Hamlet's relationship with his father forces him to carry out revenge against Claudius.
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Hamlet Directed By JOhn Caird (2000)
Simon Russell Beale as Hamlet
Reviews
“Yet while this Hamlet, like so many young men coming of age, may judge the folks at home harshly, he is equally hard on himself. When in the opening scenes he compares himself to Hercules, it is with infinite self-contempt. There is also an essential sweetness to him, which goes some distance in explaining his inability to kill.”
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"To that end, Beale’s most notable achievement is to embody the “sweet” Hamlet whom Horatio (Simon Day) often exalts, including the celebrated “goodnight, sweet prince” farewell with which — since Fortinbras doesn’t figure in this scenario — Caird’s production concludes."
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