I watched the production of Hamlet that aired on PBS earlier this week. I normally would not have watched a modernized version of Shakespeare (Yes, I’m one of those kind of people.) but with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius I couldn’t pass it up. And now, from now on, in my mind Hamlet will forever look like David Tennant.
I recorded it in the daytime because I was sure that no one else in my family would be interested. Number Two Son did watch part of it and he and I both agree that David Tennant does crazy exceptionally well. Patrick Stewart was good too of course. I really enjoyed the whole thing and I’m thinking of seeing if I can buy it on DVD.
The modern trappings didn’t bother me as much as I expected. I still thought of it as taking place in the 1500′s. I suppose I read enough science fiction that an alternate reality in which 16th century Denmark has surveillance cameras and t-shirts and such seems entirely plausible.
April 30th, 2010 - 2:24 pm
I’m really not bothered by re-sets, unless they’re something truly stupid.
I think that’s because one of the first Shakespeare plays I saw was a version of Much Ado about Nothing reset in the 1920s and it worked quite well.
I enjoyed the Hamlet, too, and I agree: Tennant does crazy well. (Or “acting crazy.”). And in the afterparts, when they interviewed people, he has the most adorable Scots accent for his “real” voice. (I never watched Dr. Who so I really had not seen him in anything before)
April 30th, 2010 - 2:27 pm
I’ve watched him Dr. Who but he doesn’t sound Scottish in that either. It was a bit of a surprise.
May 1st, 2010 - 7:34 pm
He has a Scottish accent because he’s Scottish. For Doctor Who the production team decided the Doctor should have a bland, ordinary “Estuary” English accent, which seems to have replaced RADA cultured tones as the basic British actor accent du jour. It seems that Russell T. Davies, who was in charge of the show when Tennant was the Doctor, didn’t want the 10th Doctor to be identified with just one region. I guess the whole “every planet has a North” line that they gave Christopher Eccleston’s 9th Doctor as the region he got to keep his Northern British accent didn’t go over that well. (And the old version of the show did have another Scottish actor playing the Doctor — Sylvester McCoy played the 7th Doctor, and supposedly he kept his accent but I really didn’t notice it all that much in the 7th Doctor episodes I’ve seen.)
May 1st, 2010 - 7:35 pm
Oops — that should read “…as the reason he got to keep his Northern British accent…” I had written “region” already and my fingers repeated themselves.
May 1st, 2010 - 10:12 pm
Thanks! Missed it, so I’ve just ordered the DVD. (Also in Blu-ray.) The whole thing is online, if you can stand watching it on the computer. I’d rather the living room and the comfy chair.
May 2nd, 2010 - 9:38 pm
I saw a modern version of Julius Cesear some years ago by the Melbourne Theatre Company. It was very good and I’m glad I saw it. The modern set worked very well.
David Tenant has a fairly strong Scottish accent, usually heard when he does interviews. It’s wierd to hear it thus after you’ve see three seasons of him as The Doctor! He did an interview with Michael Parkinson where his accent was mentioned and he seemed to be aware (though I don’t remember it being explicitly said) that a Scottish actor who can sound English is a bit of a rare novelty.
I remember Sylvestor McCoy’s Doctor but would not have picked his accent as Scottish. If it was, it was obviously a lot more muted than David’s
May 3rd, 2010 - 6:06 am
I wonder if there are certain combinations of “native” accent vs. “put-on” accent that are particularly hard to pull off. I’m always amazed at how well some actors (Hugh Laurie playing an American doctor, for example) can fool audiences.
I’ve also heard situations (mostly amateur productions) where the person in question probably shouldn’t even have tried. I believe it can be difficult to “do” a Southern U.S. accent, because to people unfamiliar with the South they all sound the “same,” but there are definite differences, between say, Tennessee and Georgia. (And also differences relating to ethnic background, social class, and level of education). I suspect for an American actor, a specific regional British accent could be a challenge without a coach because there are a lot of subtle differences, Midlands vs. South-of-England, rural vs. urban.
May 3rd, 2010 - 6:23 am
Accents are interesting. I used to think that England only had three or four different accents until I read in Bill Bryson’s The Mother Tongue that a person who is familiar with the country and its accents can tell what village or what neighborhood of London a person is from just from his accent.