While at times Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet may come off as a bit mad, overall this farce is a well-planned scheme to convince everyone he is crazy. Ben Brantley from the New York Times describes this as “feign[ed] madness (to lay a trap for his wicked uncle, Claudius, played by Ciaran Hinds), he dresses up like one of those giant toy soldiers he keeps in what appears to be his childhood playroom, along with what looks a big bouncy castle” (NY Times). Cumberbatch’s character is not mad when he dresses like a toy soldier and jokes around with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he is actually plotting against his Uncle and creating the “madness” as a shield. Cumberbatch’s intelligence is why he is able to switch so fast from madness to pensiveness.
Hamlet Directed By Lyndsey Turner (2015)
Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet in Lydsey Turner's 2015 production
Reviews
"Cumberbatch’s Hamlet has the constant air of a bright but puzzled prep school misfit trying to work out a particularly difficult Rubik’s Cube."
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"Cumberbatch's intelligence and empathy illuminate Hamlet's moral dilemma. To redress his father's murder he must become a murderer himself — no easy task for an intellectual accustomed to debating every side of an argument. The tragedy here is of a ruined mind, too noble and smart for the swamp of politics yet unable to shirk the responsibility that fortune has mercilessly assigned."
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"In those, he is superb, meticulously tracing lines of thought into revelations that stun, elate, exasperate, and sadden him. There's not a single soliloquy that doesn't shed fresh insight into how Hamlet thinks."
"The effect is of a man separated from reality by his own self-fascinated mind."
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