James Harper, The Courier Mail
La Boite's new production, directed by David Berthold with most inventive and efficient design lighting and music by Greg Clarke, David Walters and Steve Toulmin, is the most downright gripping Shakespeare production seen in Brisbane for many a year...
As Hamlet, Toby Schmitz convinces as both Shakespearean prince and modern-day young person, as his moods swing violently - sulky, grieving youth one minute, vengeful prankster and implacable avenger the next. Schmitz clearly understands what he is saying and why, almost every line feels natural, unforced and thought through...
Perhaps the director's biggest gamble was taking the crucial scenes where a company of travelling players performs at Hamlet's request, and setting the actors' speeches as pop songs. It could all so easily have turned to cheese, but somehow it sustains the story and heightens the tension.
It's no exaggeration to call this production a triumph. You should see it.
Nigel Munro-Wallis, ABC Brisbane
In recent years few productions in Brisbane have been more keenly anticipated than La Boite's 2010 season opener Hamlet. Critics, commentators and theatre patrons alike have all been eagerly awaiting the opening of this most tragic and Shakespearean tragedies in order to see what the newly re-vitalised and re-energised company will have to offer.
David Berthold, who took over the reins of the company in 2009 has been promising a new direction and a new feel for this iconic Queensland company from the opening of the 2010 season onwards and has caused more than a few ruffled feathers in the local industry as he attempts to reposition La Boite from its niche position as a producer of local work to one of national significance and many have looked to this production of Hamlet as a marker for what may lie ahead.
Well, if this production is a sign of things to come then I for one am convinced the company is in very talented and capable hands. As a critic I have probably seen more than my fair share of productions of Hamlet but never have I seen one as good as this. Berthold's gritty interpretation of the script, his re-working and trimming of some of the text and his clear and visionary direction have breathed new life into the play in a way that many would not have thought possible...
Alison Cotes, A Little Gossip
There is no definitive Hamlet, or even Hamlet, and that's one reason why this play remains a masterpiece for all time. Every age has its own interpretation, and the moody sentimental Dane that Laurence Olivier gave us in his brooding 1948 film, or Mel Gibson's shallow sulky version 20 years ago, no longer press the buttons for young people today.
This is not a respectable play, for it is above all a play for a younger audience, and David Berthold, in his first production as Artistic Director of La Boite, has got it just right, so that it worked for the teenagers in the audience as well as for their more sedate elders.
I must have seen about 20 Hamlets in my life and, for our angst-ridden times, this one is as good as any... I just loved this production, for its insights, its relevance, its passion and its pace. Let's hope that the rest of La Boite's 2010 season can maintain this standard.
