Richard Burton's Hamlet
| Richard Burton’s Hamlet | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
Bill Colleran (film) John Gielgud (stage) |
| Produced by |
Alexander Cohen Alfred W. Crown John Heyman |
| Written by | William Shakespeare |
| Starring |
Richard Burton Hume Cronyn Eileen Herlie Alfred Drake |
| Cinematography | Nobby Cross |
| Distributed by | Theatrofilm |
|
Release date
|
23 September 1964 |
|
Running time
|
191 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3,100,000 (US/ Canada) |
Richard Burton’s Hamlet is a common name for both the Broadway production of William Shakespeare's tragedy that played from April 9 to August 8, 1964 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and for the filmed record of it that has been released theatrically and on home video.
The production took place because of a lighthearted agreement between Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole while they were filming Becket. O’Toole decreed that they should each play Hamlet afterwards under the direction of John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier in either London or New York City, with a coin toss deciding who would be assigned which director and which city. O’Toole won London and Olivier in the toss, with Burton being assigned Gielgud and New York. O’Toole kept his part of the agreement, appearing as Hamlet under Olivier's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre later that year, and Burton approached producer Alexander H. Cohen and Gielgud about mounting a New York production.
Because Burton disliked wearing period costumes, and for aesthetic reasons of his own, Gielgud conceived of a production performed in a “rehearsal” setting with an incomplete set and the actors wearing what appeared to be street clothes (although the costumes were actually the result of continuous trial-and-error in rehearsals, with the actors bringing in countless variations of attire for Gielgud to consider). Gielgud also opted to depict the Ghost as a shadow against the back of the stage wall, voicing the character himself on tape (since he was unavailable while the production was in performance).
The production was a financial smash, achieving the longest run for the play in Broadway history at 137 performances, which broke the previous record set by Maurice Evans's GI Hamlet in the 1940s. The run's popularity was due in no small part to attention Burton received for his romance with Elizabeth Taylor, whom he married while the production was in Toronto pre-Broadway; crowds gathered outside the New York theater to get a glimpse of Burton, and sometimes Taylor, after the show. Burton's reviews in the title role were largely favorable and he received a Tony Award nomination for his performance, and Hume Cronyn’s performance as Polonius won him the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. Eileen Herlie, who played Queen Gertrude, had already played the role in Laurence Olivier's Oscar-winning 1948 film version. Less favorably received were Linda Marsh as Ophelia and Alfred Drake as King Claudius, whom Gielgud had considered replacing with respectively Sarah Miles and either Harry Andrews or himself in rehearsals.
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