\t\t\t\t\t\t[aesop_gallery pslightbox=”on” transition=”crossfade” caption=”1&5: Photos by Boyd Hagen courtesy of the Guthrie Theatre of Minnesota; 2-4: Photos by Tom Sweeney” galleryType=”grid” id=”1039″]\n
\u201c\u2019\u2019HAMLET\u2019 MORE SOBER\u2014BUT A FINE OFFERING\u2019\u2026. 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\u2026. The development of the character is not in a straight line but a consistent one. Kim\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\u201d \u201c\u2019\u2019HAMLET\u2019 MORE ACTION THAN WORDS\u2019\u2026THE GUTHRIE Theater\u2019s production of \u2018Hamlet\u2019 is a straight, strong, tough tale of passionate action in which the rounded thought and precise beauties of Shakespeare\u2019s language take second place to the headlong events\u2026. there\u2019s little doubt that theatergoers in general will be swept along by an excitement and tension many never have expected to find in \u2018Hamlet\u2019\u2014or on any classic stage, for that matter\u2026. Randall Duk Kim, the magnetic new presence on the Guthrie stage, conceives a harsh, angry, austere Hamlet\u2026. I\u2019m 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\u2014dynamic, head-knocking executive\u2014to my bosom with total enthusiasm\u2026. In his stern reading of the character, Kim denies himself much of the powerful pathos of the famous soliloquies\u2026. Only in \u2018O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I\u2019 does his pragmatism abate and let pure emotion catch him up (and us with him) to the edge of tears\u2026.\u201d \u201cGUTHRIE\u2019S HAMLET POSSESSES RENAISSANCE ICE, LITTLE FIRE\u2026. Randall Duk Kim\u2019s 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\u2026. Kim\u2019s Hamlet is well-spoken but hard to read. It\u2019s a nonspecific reading, seemingly still in the search stages. He\u2019s 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.\u201d \u201c\u2019HEADLONG \u2019HAMLET\u2019\u2019\u2026. No pale and wan Hamlet this\u2014and 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\u2019s darkly violent personality, Kim makes the prince much more a man of action\u2014resolute and revenging, driving and doing\u2014than a reflection of the brooding, cerebral hero, the \u2018melancholy Dane\u2019 of recent stage model. Kim\u2019s Hamlet is the Guthrie\u2019s most vibrant production of the season\u2026. Kim\u2019s conception is a heavily physical one\u2026. Taking his cue from Shakespeare\u2019s \u2018Speak the speech, I pray you\u2019 advice to the players, Kim adds another dimension to his role\u2014and the play\u2014by 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\u2019s lines seemed to take on the freshness of new-minted phrases. This is, indeed, a fresh \u2018Hamlet\u2019\u2026. This muscular \u2018Hamlet\u2019, however, seems assured of a high energy level through its run.\u201d \u201c\u2026In 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\u2019s is self-wise; where the traditional prince is indecisive, Kim\u2019s is prudent. Kim\u2019s magnificent throaty delivery and emotional manner make this Hamlet concretely, rather than abstractly, sympathetic\u2026. Kim\u2019s Hamlet is a vigorous prince, and though he makes Hamlet\u2019s dilemma more personal to us than the traditional abstract justice of Hamlet\u2019s case, he gives us too little of the man\u2019s puzzled interiority\u2026. Nonetheless\u2026 Randall Duk Kim gives a loving, stern performance that will stay a long time with those lucky enough to see it.\u201d \u201c\u2019RAMPAGING THROUGH ELSINORE\u2019\u2026Randall Duk Kim\u2019s performance of Hamlet runs through the play like a thread of lightning and holds it together\u2026. 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\u2026 there\u2019s 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\u2026. He charges through the soliloquies so fast they come as a surprise; apparently he\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\u201d \u201c\u2019GUTHRIE\u2019S \u2018HAMLET\u2019 PASSIONATE, HUMAN\u2019\u2026this is the most forthright, human and intelligible version I\u2019ve seen of this play. While there are flaws (including the choice to trim the play to a \u2018manageable length\u2019), this production gathers steam in its three and a half hours, building to a finale that is exciting and affecting, both emotionally and intellectually\u2026. 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\u2019s quick marriage to his mother, the appearance of a ghost claiming to be the slain king\u2026. 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s intention: capturing the audience with this magnificent play\u2026. 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.\u201d \u201cTHERE IS, in the Guthrie Theater\u2019s production of \u2018Hamlet,\u2019 a deep and profoundly simple respect for the written strength of Shakespeare\u2019s 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\u2026. 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\u2026. 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\u2019s Hamlet is not overly melancholy, angry or frustrated. He\u2019s a man on an edge; balance (i.e. reason) keeps him upright. He is a gentleman; emotional outbursts are not his style\u2014they are too simple, and for Hamlet nothing is simple. AS KIM plays him, Hamlet\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s own creative interpretation, making him too aware of the character\u2019s strength as written\u2026. Kim\u2019s performance nevertheless runs as a bright unifying thread through the Guthrie\u2019s 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\u2026. \u2019Hamlet\u2019 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 \u2019Hamlet,\u2019 and \u2018Hamlet\u2019 done soundly and in view of this area\u2019s theatrical trend toward doing obscure or untried plays, it may be some time before we get a chance to see this tried\u2014and proven\u2014enduring classic again.\u201d \u201c\u2026Randall Duk Kim\u2014a man with an economical physique and a wonderfully expressive face\u2014makes 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\u2019s as physically intense a Hamlet as I\u2019ve 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\u2026.\u201d [aesop_gallery pslightbox=”on” transition=”crossfade” caption=”1&5: Photos by Boyd Hagen courtesy of the Guthrie Theatre of Minnesota; 2-4: Photos by Tom Sweeney” galleryType=”grid” id=”1039″] Review Excerpts \u201c\u2019\u2019HAMLET\u2019 MORE SOBER\u2014BUT A FINE OFFERING\u2019\u2026. 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-performances"],"metadata":{"_wp_old_date":["2021-12-03"],"_edit_lock":["1644454411:268"]},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\u2013John H. Harvey, ST. PAUL DISPATCH (8\/24\/1978)<\/strong> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\u2013Don Morrison, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR (8\/25\/1978)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2013Mike Steele, MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE (8\/25\/1978)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u2013Joan Bunke, DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER (8\/27\/1978)<\/b> <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\u2013Dave Hage, THE FREE PRESS, MANKATO (8\/26\/1978)<\/b> <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\u2013Catherine Taylor, TC READER (9\/1\/1978)<\/b> <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\u2013Marshall Fine, ARGUS-LEADER, SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (9\/22\/1978)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2013Sally Gadbois, THE SUN WEEKENDER (9\/22\/1978)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2013D.R. Martin, TWIN CITIES (11\/1978)<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"