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Theatre

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet is far too nice

Plus: a play at the Dorfman that is hooked on an addictive illusion but still packs a five-star punch

12 September 2015

9:00 AM

12 September 2015

9:00 AM

Hamlet

Barbican, until 31 October

People, Places and Things

Dorfman, in rep until 4 November

You can’t play the part of Hamlet, only parts of Hamlet. And the bits Benedict Cumberbatch offers us are of the highest calibre. He delivers the soliloquies with a meticulous and absorbing clarity like a lawyer in the robing room mastering a brief before his summing-up. And though he’s a decade too old to play the prince (the grave scene sets his age at about 28), he cavorts about the stage like a ballet dancer delighting in his own athleticism.

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