RSC’s Hamlet | Review by Stephen Stokoe
Theatre Royal, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne | 31st March 2026
After enjoying some high brow opera last week over the wear in Sunderland, this week it was the turn of Great Britain’s most famous bard to enthral and entertain this time at Newcastle’s iconic Theatre Royal as the formidable Royal Shakespeare Company sails into town with their stark but stunning production of Hamlet.
The Sophie Drake (Originally Robert Goold) directed production associates the dire state of the monarchy in Denmark to that of the doomed RMS Titanic with the murder of King Hamlet Sr being the iceberg strike as the catalyst for the downfall of the regime. Anyone studying Hamlet for English Literature may be slightly taken aback by the setting of the play and some of the classy scene changes, segues, and choreography (Hannes Langolt) but I think the iceberg strike metaphor as Hamlet’s descent into madness and the chaos he causes with his outlandish machinations works incredibly well.
The entire production is dark right from the start, A stark stern of a ship with a single coffin adorned with the flag of Denmark serves to foretell what is to come. The slight pomp in the music (Adam Cork – who was also the sound designer) clashes wonderfully with the rather curt despatch of the former king into the foamy brine. This was the fate of many a character either by choice or at the hands of the crew throughout the production. This added an extra callousness to the narrative which was also dramatically effective.
The musical director was Dan De Cruz (originally Lindsey Miller) and he really brought out the dissonance and dark power of Cork’s music which jarred and embellished quite intentionally from the beginning. There was some very close harmony at the beginning of the play which is extremely clever – once again – setting a cold and callous feel to the production.
Ralph Davis is superb as Shakespeare’s most famous tragic hero. At the start of the play he is the tortured figure we all know but there was also a playfulness in Davis’ interpretation that I have not encountered before. His camaraderie with his buddies is warm and affectionate as he plots the downfall of his Uncle Claudius. Stoutly, and forever by his side, is his best friend, Horatio who is played with an earthly and wholesome charm by Colin Ryan.
In previous productions of this, one of the bard’s most famous tragedies, the characters seem to become caricatures not so in this iteration. I found Claudius (Raymond Coulthard) to be very human, obviously a man wracked with guilt from his regicide but also a powerful and perfectly adequate statesman alongside his new wife, Gertrude (Poppy Miller) who offers a royal, yet maternal manner as her wayward son runs amok around her.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, still old friends of Hamlet, are now a couple but still attempt to guide their afflicted old friend and report back to the new king as to the causes of his absence of all reason.
The comedy of the piece as always comes from Polonius (Richard Cant), a father-figure to all and confident to the king, who is always on hand with wise words and idioms to guide his own children Laertes (Benjamin Westerby) and the beautiful but tragic Ophelia (Georgia-Mae Myers) whose function is always to put up with Hamlet’s less guarded jibes and ultimately pay the price for her devotion to her love and, indeed, her family.
The set design (Es Devlin) is very clever indeed and in combination with some very clever videography (Akhila Krishnan) and an outstanding lighting design (Jack Knowles) offers some visual trickery and occasionally but intentionally nauseating scenes that power the narrative and its nautical theme to its devastating conclusion.
As always with Royal Shakespeare Productions, Hamlet is everything you want from Shakekspeare’s tale of revenge, madness, and treachery but this production, for me, adds something which makes the characters more real, the story more accessible and, despite the death count, thoroughly enjoyable.
Like the old joke about not going to see “Titanic” because you know the ending, most people know that practically everybody dies at the conclusion of Hamlet but Drake, the entire cast, and the crew and creatives sure take you there with some panache and more than a little bit of fun and artistic licence. Alas, poor reader, I could see it but once.