“Hamlet” – 1978/79

Review Excerpts

“’’HAMLET’ MORE SOBER—BUT A FINE OFFERING’…. In Randall Duk Kim, an American actor of Korean descent, we have a Hamlet of wit, intelligence, passion and action. From the opening court scene, we feel the intensity of his feelings…. The development of the character is not in a straight line but a consistent one. Kim’s Hamlet is a young man under a heavy burden, whose passion wars with his intelligence, hence his self-accusations of irresolution. All of this is accomplished at some sacrifice of the music of the Shakespearean verse. The wire taut intensity of Kim’s expression sometimes rides over transitional pauses and fogs the rhythm of the language. All in all, though, his performance is compelling, and his voice and the compact athleticism of his movement add fine dimensions to it.”
               –John H. Harvey, ST. PAUL DISPATCH (8/24/1978) 

“’’HAMLET’ MORE ACTION THAN WORDS’…THE GUTHRIE Theater’s production of ‘Hamlet’ is a straight, strong, tough tale of passionate action in which the rounded thought and precise beauties of Shakespeare’s language take second place to the headlong events…. there’s little doubt that theatergoers in general will be swept along by an excitement and tension many never have expected to find in ‘Hamlet’—or on any classic stage, for that matter…. Randall Duk Kim, the magnetic new presence on the Guthrie stage, conceives a harsh, angry, austere Hamlet…. I’m happy to see lain to rest the long-prevailing image of Hamlet as a nail-biting, vacillating wimp, but I cannot quite grasp this opposite extreme—dynamic, head-knocking executive—to my bosom with total enthusiasm…. In his stern reading of the character, Kim denies himself much of the powerful pathos of the famous soliloquies…. Only in ‘O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I’ does his pragmatism abate and let pure emotion catch him up (and us with him) to the edge of tears….”
               –Don Morrison, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR (8/25/1978)

“GUTHRIE’S HAMLET POSSESSES RENAISSANCE ICE, LITTLE FIRE…. Randall Duk Kim’s Hamlet is a tough and determined but petulant young man, a hard fellow to like as it turns out, with a wry sense of black humor to mitigate his dry intellectualism. His passions are deep within, abstracted, seldom on the surface…. Kim’s Hamlet is well-spoken but hard to read. It’s a nonspecific reading, seemingly still in the search stages. He’s dominant and authoritative, but a bit bloodless and maybe too sure of himself. He seems to show ardor without feeling it. The thermometer reads fever but the forehead is cold.”
               –Mike Steele, MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE (8/25/1978)

“’HEADLONG ’HAMLET’’…. No pale and wan Hamlet this—and not only for the obvious reason that he is played by Randall Duk Kim, an American actor of Korean and Chinese ancestry. In putting his emphasis on Hamlet’s darkly violent personality, Kim makes the prince much more a man of action—resolute and revenging, driving and doing—than a reflection of the brooding, cerebral hero, the ‘melancholy Dane’ of recent stage model. Kim’s Hamlet is the Guthrie’s most vibrant production of the season…. Kim’s conception is a heavily physical one…. Taking his cue from Shakespeare’s ‘Speak the speech, I pray you’ advice to the players, Kim adds another dimension to his role—and the play—by his decision not to highlight, underscore, ham up the showcase speeches. That decision restores the set-pieces to their natural rhythms, makes them part of the unfolding drama. The flow opening night was so fast, that Shakespeare’s lines seemed to take on the freshness of new-minted phrases. This is, indeed, a fresh ‘Hamlet’…. This muscular ‘Hamlet’, however, seems assured of a high energy level through its run.”
               –Joan Bunke, DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER (8/27/1978) 

“…In one of the most powerful, sincere performances to grace the Guthrie stage this year, Randall Duk Kim gives us a Hamlet that is smart, regal and vigorous. Where the traditional Hamlet is introspective, Kim’s is self-wise; where the traditional prince is indecisive, Kim’s is prudent. Kim’s magnificent throaty delivery and emotional manner make this Hamlet concretely, rather than abstractly, sympathetic…. Kim’s Hamlet is a vigorous prince, and though he makes Hamlet’s dilemma more personal to us than the traditional abstract justice of Hamlet’s case, he gives us too little of the man’s puzzled interiority…. Nonetheless… Randall Duk Kim gives a loving, stern performance that will stay a long time with those lucky enough to see it.”
               –Dave Hage, THE FREE PRESS, MANKATO (8/26/1978) 

“’RAMPAGING THROUGH ELSINORE’…Randall Duk Kim’s performance of Hamlet runs through the play like a thread of lightning and holds it together…. After so many Hamlets swooning with indecision, an activist prince in an agitated Denmark is refreshing, but takes some getting used to. Duk Kim pitches into the interpretation with every nimble fiber of his being… there’s no forgetting him or denying his power. Hard-bitten, cynical, almost street-wise in the midst of Elsinore, he represents more the modern urban type of youth, old for his years, than the boyish, romantic one…. He charges through the soliloquies so fast they come as a surprise; apparently he’s too angry and impatient to spend any time mooning about. The audience gets a charge out of the theatrical energy he generates, and hardly has time to notice that the poetic reflection, the depths and shadings expected of a complex Hamlet, are largely missing for much of the play’s run. Duk Kim risks monotony by growling most of his lines until Hamlet softens in the fifth act. And yet, his sardonic humor and the unexpectedness of a prince defying his own society add up to a pointed, memorable interpretation of the role.”
               –Catherine Taylor, TC READER (9/1/1978) 

“’GUTHRIE’S ‘HAMLET’ PASSIONATE, HUMAN’…this is the most forthright, human and intelligible version I’ve seen of this play. While there are flaws (including the choice to trim the play to a ‘manageable length’), this production gathers steam in its three and a half hours, building to a finale that is exciting and affecting, both emotionally and intellectually…. what we have is a portrait of a young prince, who must contend with a series of events for which he is totally unprepared, doings that are without precedence in his experience: the murder of his father, the usurpation of the throne by his uncle and his uncle’s quick marriage to his mother, the appearance of a ghost claiming to be the slain king…. It is a linear approach to the domino-like chain of occurrences. Each toppling domino renders a change in Hamlet, as he grows from a self-pitying, spoiled student to dedicated seeker of both truth and vengeance. The magic of the production lies in Randall Duk Kim’s performance as Hamlet. Kim is a fascinating craftsman, taking the stage in a seemingly full-blown character, then altering and adjusting it to react to each situation. In Kim’s Hamlet, there is no trace of equivocation, no hint of madness, no whisper of lust for his mother or jealousy for his step father/uncle. Instead, there is a grim determination to right the wrong that has been committed, though obstacles seem to block his path consistently. Kim’s transformation of the character from icy egocentricism to a raging heat and even compassion (for Laertes and Ophelia as tragic pawns in this game) is moving to experience. His communication with the audience is complete; the soliloquies have the power and eloquence which Shakespeare intended, yet Kim gives them even more meaning in his conversational delivery. Suddenly Shakespeare’s words, which seem so indigestible to some, take on added meaning. Rather than imparting false import to the lines, Kim strikes straight to the heart of the Bard’s intention: capturing the audience with this magnificent play…. If there is a key to this production, it is the humanity which the cast brings to it. The passions and actions of this play are made contemporary by the performances: times may change, but emotions and the human animal remain constant.”
               –Marshall Fine, ARGUS-LEADER, SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (9/22/1978)

“THERE IS, in the Guthrie Theater’s production of ‘Hamlet,’ a deep and profoundly simple respect for the written strength of Shakespeare’s work. This respect is the backbone on which director Stephen Kanee and the man who plays Hamlet, Randall Duk Kim, build their interpretations of this much interpreted play. This is a strong, steady show. There are no histrionics, no unique character interpretations…. Kim gives a straightforward rendering of the script, letting the words speak for themselves. The transformation from written word to stage has never been done more clearly or literally…. To be an actor playing an actor as complex as Hamlet, in a play in which action and events move so swiftly, is no easy feat. To accomplish it and retain the vitality, the excitement, the mysteriousness of the play is a dream few actors have realized. Randall Duk Kim comes close. Where he is weak he lacks fire, intensity, versatility in portraying the shades of nuance in the prince. Kim’s Hamlet is not overly melancholy, angry or frustrated. He’s a man on an edge; balance (i.e. reason) keeps him upright. He is a gentleman; emotional outbursts are not his style—they are too simple, and for Hamlet nothing is simple. AS KIM plays him, Hamlet’s failure to act is not an inability but an understandable and logical decision to go slowly, to see just what kind of situation he is faced with. After all, the commanding ghost may be nothing more than a fabrication of his trouble mind, and his mother, who has hurt him more than anyone, is still his mother, still very much loved. If Kim’s Hamlet lacks fire it may be because he understands his character too well. Too much knowledge can paralyze, can temper and subdue a characterization, squelch spontaneity. It can limit the actor’s own creative interpretation, making him too aware of the character’s strength as written…. Kim’s performance nevertheless runs as a bright unifying thread through the Guthrie’s production. His stage presence is commanding. Seated behind him when he first appeared on stage in Act I, Scene II, Kim shed his cloak and himself as he rose to speak his first lines. He shook himself slightly and I could literally see him settle into the role. A shiver ran through me; to see the transformation was to understand the importance of the role to the actor, and the difficulty in capturing it…. ’Hamlet’ continues at the Guthrie until November 25. It should not be missed, even if the tapestry of the show is not as rich in complexity and fire as one could wish. It is still ’Hamlet,’ and ‘Hamlet’ done soundly and in view of this area’s theatrical trend toward doing obscure or untried plays, it may be some time before we get a chance to see this tried—and proven—enduring classic again.”
               –Sally Gadbois, THE SUN WEEKENDER (9/22/1978)

“…Randall Duk Kim—a man with an economical physique and a wonderfully expressive face—makes his Hamlet work by sheer will power and energy. He broods deeply; he traverses the stage like a caged animal; he speaks with a raspy world-weariness. He’s as physically intense a Hamlet as I’ve ever seen, and his soliloquy, rather than a contemplation is a call for action. He may not have anything insightful to say about the role, but for his time on stage he owns it. And that is a pleasure to see. But a good Hamlet does not alone a good Hamlet make….”
               –D.R. Martin, TWIN CITIES (11/1978)