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From The Times

February 18, 2008

In search of the perfect Hamlet

As David Tennant prepares to play Hamlet, the Times's theatre critic names his top ten actors in the role, but is still waiting for someone to play it perfectly

Benedict Nightingale

Who is the best Hamlet you've seen? Tell us at the bottom of the page

Watch classic versions of Hamlet's famous soliloquy by Laurence Olivier, 1948 I Derek Jacobi, 1980 I Kevin Kline, 1990 I Kenneth Branagh, 1996 I Ethan Hawke, 2000

At last count I'd seen 40 Hamlets, beginning with Richard Burton, of whom my boyhood memory is simply that he scowled and throbbed and would rather have been drinking in Swansea than dying in Elsinore. God help me, I've reviewed 35 of them. I've seen virtuous Hamlets like Simon Russell Beale and baleful, brooding ones like Nicol Williamson, mad ones like Mark Rylance, sound-minded ones like Toby Stephens, and several so mentally ambiguous that they justified Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's summing-up of the prince in Tom Stoppard's Shakespeare spin-off: “stark raving sane.”

I've seen some manage the near-impossible, which is to be dull, and some become highly eccentric. I've seen Paul Rhys's willowy, weepy Hamlet scrub his nails and Yorick's skull in a bath while orating about destiny, Jonathan Pryce internalise his father's ghost into a deep voice that burped its demands up from his stomach, Samuel West's scruffy student prince share a joint with the Rosensterns, and Frances de la Tour, my first female Hamlet, mooch lankily about in clothes best suited to a transport cafe specialising in soggy chips. I've even seen George Anton's druggie prince (isn't he said to be “blasted with ecstasy”?) rape an Ophelia whose corpse was also used by a necrophiliac Horatio; but that time the director was Calixto Bieito, the Catalan maverick of whom the rest should be silence.

Who is the best Hamlet I've seen or, to put it another way, the worthiest heir to gentle Garrick and ferocious Kean, sensitive Gielgud and ballsy Olivier? That's a question well worth asking now, with David Tennant soon to emerge from his Tardis to play Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh directing Jude Law's prince next year, and Jonathan Miller staging the play in Bristol next month. But it's hard to answer because the search is for a complete Hamlet and, really, there's no such being.

His own testimony is that he is very proud, revengeful and ambitious, Ophelia's that he is the glass of fashion, the expectancy of the state and a noble courtier, soldier and scholar, and Fortinbras's that he would have “proved most royal”. But every claim needs qualification.

He is loving, callous, fastidious, coarse, contemptuous, considerate, vindictive, prudish, indecisive, tough, incapable, philosophic, violent, melancholy, resilient, vulnerable, intense, detached, humorous, aristocratic, demotic, articulate, self-hating and much else, including a stage director and Denmark's premier theatre critic. He is Dr Jekyll and perhaps he is also Mr Hyde, in D.H. Lawrence's words “a repulsive, creeping, unclean thing”. He is a success, for he gets his man, and a failure, for he leaves behind eight bodies, including his own, when there was meant to be one.

Coleridge decided in an opium haze that he was Hamlet, and so might you and I, for perhaps he is all of us at our most maddeningly unpindownable. And here's the central problem. How can an actor make the prince's inconsistencies consistent? Well, the answer is simple. He can't. Derek Jacobi acknowledged this when he called the role “infinitely adaptable” but added that every actor could only bring his own “emotional bank” to the play and try to be spendthrift. Sadly, though, every actor is ultimately doomed to live within his means. Every actor's resources are finite, however daringly he maximises them.

In a brilliant study of past performances, The Masks of Hamlet, Marvin Rosenberg divides actors playing the role into “sweet” and “powerful”. It's a start. Russell Beale has said that he was surprised to discover how attractive Hamlet was, and his warm, thoughtful performance showed it. I'd also put Michael Pennington, John Neville, a somewhat prim Tom Courtenay, a gravely intellectual Alex Jennings and Jacobi himself in that rough category. The powerful would be led by Williamson, who looked older than his own mother and stalked through the Danish fleshpots like an angry Luther, unnerving Anthony Hopkins's Claudius with his stare and puritan snarl. He was clearly a king-in-waiting, which was good, but left you wondering why he hadn't skewered his uncle by Act II: which is the trouble with “powerful” Hamlets.

Another division is between the princely and unprincely, especially as the latter has become common ever since 1965, when David Warner shambled onstage in a college scarf in a Peter Hall revival that spoke to a new era. Albert Finney's Hamlet was a disorderly dropout from Wittenberg University, a turbulent bull who could hardly enter an anteroom without knocking over the people as well as the china. Stephen Dillane's sardonic prince blundered about wearing what might have been called Godot chic, painfully aware that he was more a modern alternative comedian than a Renaissance avenger. Neither Sam West's hoodie Hamlet nor Ben Whishaw's despairing adolescent nor Alan Cumming's whipped, defeated Peter Pan of a prince nor Anton Lesser's childishly blubbing youth nor Peter Eyre's furrowed, bookish student nor Frank Grimes, who played hide and seek with Polonius in Lindsay Anderson's 1981 revival, nor Alan Rickman, an upmarket Eeyore dolefully regarding his burst balloon - no, none of them looked likely to have proved most royal.

On the other hand, Ralph Fiennes made you believe that Claudius had stolen the throne from its rightful heir and, as a naturally virile man, was baffled and infuriated by his own passivity. Edward Fox was so much the patrician that Claudius seemed a nouveau-riche interloper from suburban Copenhagen. Kenneth Branagh was a strong, upright Hamlet who had Barnardo and Marcellus jumping nervously to attention at the very start. Kevin Kline was intelligent, composed, formidable. Toby Stephens went farther, flashing the whites of his eyes and whiter-than-whites of his teeth and refreshing jaded appetites with the sort of dashing, romantic, robust prince we thought had disappeared with John Barrymore's once-famous Hamlet.

Actually, the best Hamlets are a mix of the sweet and powerful, princely and unprincely. They embrace inconsistency, hint at confusions that explain their failure to act decisively, and find fresh complexities to add. Fiennes was impressively noble, yet he could violently shove his mother's face into her mattress and crazily mime rear-end sex with her. Like many Hamlets he suffered from the Oedipals - Daniel Day-Lewis gave Judi Dench's Gertrude a big, incestuous kiss on the mouth - and, also like many, he needed the abortive trip to England to change, grow, become a plausible avenger.

I've often felt that the pirates who captured Hamlet had a resident psychiatrist along with their store of planks and cutlasses. Michael Maloney's Hamlet for Yukio Ninagawa fought a long internal battle between immaturity and maturity that ended the adult way. Likewise with Alan Howard's volatile, unpredictable prince for Trevor Nunn. When the shocked, enfeebled Ian McKellen of Act II yelled “oh vengeance!”, he looked at his melodramatically raised hands and silently acknowledged how clean, white and absurdly unmurderous they were; but by Act VI he seemed to have grown in years as well as weight.

Again, Ed Stoppard, Paul Rhys, Sam West and Alex Jennings all had to cope with suicidal impulses that, in Jennings's case, meant that he carried a pistol in a grocery bag and aimed it at his head in the “to be” speech.

And others didn't realise how much depression had escalated into the insanity that they themselves claimed was a ruse to unsettle Claudius. Rylance wandered about in an excrement-streaked nightgown, bared his bum, biffed a sack that the appalled court thought contained Polonius's head, only to reveal this to be a cabbage; yet he, too, was a new man by the end.

The critic James Agate wrote that Hamlet “must make us cry one minute and shudder the next”, and with his mix of grief, affection and wayward menace, Rylance came close to achieving that. He is among the near-complete Hamlets, along with Pryce, Branagh, Russell Beale and Ben Kingsley. I won't forget the sad, moody, impulsive Pryce's wolfish howls at Ophelia's death or, conversely, the way the often tender Branagh spat in her face and savagely humiliated her. Or how Kingsley's intolerably hurt and stressed Hamlet found release in wry humour and self-mockery, actually puffing out his cheeks and satirically popping them on his last words, “the rest is silence”.

Did Russell Beale lack fire and fierceness? A bit. But his witty, troubled, caring, self-knowing, morally sturdy and supremely incisive Hamlet defied his physical constraints - one headline read “tubby or not tubby, fat is the question” - to touch the heart and, dare I say, soul.

At times he had the quality for which Edwin Booth, the American actor whose brother killed Lincoln, was famous: a haunted other-worldliness, a spirituality lacking in our theatres and our lives.

So maybe he is my best, or least incomplete, Hamlet. But let Olivier, who was too fiery and fierce, have the last word: “Every time you read a line it can be a new discovery. You can play it and play it and still not get to the bottom of its box of wonders.” There are surprises and marvels yet to come.

Playing Hamlet: actors' views

Interviews by Dominic Maxwell

SIMON RUSSELL BEALE

Played Hamlet at the National Theatre, 2000

I was such a ludicrous piece of casting. Alex Jennings, Paul Rhys, Kenneth Branagh - I was Second Gravedigger in his film - Ralph Fiennes, these are the real Hamlets, so I couldn't compare myself to them anyway. I knew I wouldn't be like anyone else.

As always with those great parts, you go to places where you don't expect to go. I was obsessed with the madness question - I felt that this Hamlet was grieving, not mad.

He turned out to be a sweet prince. I'd like to have known him: a decent chap, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Hamlet is qualitatively different from any other part. You're very lucky if you get the chance to play it: a man stripped down to his barest essentials. It sounds pretentious to say it, but you are a different actor after playing Hamlet.

DOMINIC DROMGOOLE

Artistic director, Shakespeare's Globe

The best performance I've seen was Simon Russell Beale's. It was very delicate, very exacting. He portrayed a gentle spirit surrounded by much harsher people. The production around him was not so good, but his performance was very great. I'm not interested in directing Hamlet myself - I've never really figured out how you can carry all that windbaggery. If you look at Hamlet, there is one juggernaut in the middle, four or five decent supporting parts, then a lot of rubbish parts.

ALEX JENNINGS

Played Hamlet for the RSC, 1997-98

It sounds a bit naff, but I didn't want to see any other Hamlets for a while after mine. It does affect you. But seeing Simon Russell Beale was great, because he's so different. His directness with an audience was fantastic. There were a few lines where I thought, oh sh*t, I wish I'd said it that way!

Did it change me as an actor? I certainly felt so at the time. It was very hard to say goodbye to it - it was the best acting experience I've had.

ZOË WANAMAKER

Actress, daughter of the founder of Shakespeare's Globe Sam Wanamaker

My favourite Hamlet was my first - Olivier, in the movies. He was beautiful, sexy, theatrical yet graceful, the embodiment of everything that we fantasise about in Hamlet. He spoke it as if he had just thought of it. On stage? Mark Rylance, for differerent reasons. He wasn't sexy or graceful. But he was unusual - he had that watchability.

MICHAEL BOYD

Artistic director, RSC

It's the most challenging role there is for a young actor. It's huge, it's emotionally and physically draining, and it requires a tremendous wit. I would love to see Johnny Depp do it - he has the wicked mischief that the part needs.

I have several favourites, including my first - Classics Illustrated, a comic-book version. It saw him as a revenge hero. The first really vivid production I saw was Jonathan Pryce at the Royal Court. The restless internalising was the strongest I've seen.

SAMUEL WEST

Played Hamlet for the RSC, 2001-02

I loved Mark Rylance's first Hamlet, in 1989. He was unbelievably inventive, brilliantly lonely. I've seen the play about 20 times, but only once since I played it. It is the ultimate part for a young actor and you can never get it entirely right. But you get to do a lot of working things out; you can be pathologically self-centred, then you get to have a really good sword fight at the end. I'd love to play it again.

Three days from the end of the run, I was heckled. That told me I was on the right track. Our director, Steven Pimlott, always maintained that a soliloquy should be directed to the audience: “If you ask the questions in the right way then eventually someone will answer.” And they did!

It was the “rogue and peasant slave” speech. I said “Am I coward?” And someone yelled out, “Yes!” The next line was, “Who calls me villain?” And he said, “Me! Last row of the circle, don't know the seat number!” Stage management met me in the wings and said, are you all right? I said, “It's the best thing that's ever happened to me!”

Benedict Nightingale's top ten Hamlets

1 Simon Russell Beale (2000)

2 Mark Rylance (2000)

3 Jonathan Pryce (1980)

4 Kenneth Branagh (1992)

5 Stephen Dillane (1994)

6 Ben Kingsley (1976)

7 Ralph Fiennes (1995)

8 Samuel West (2001)

9 Michael Pennington (1980)

10 Alex Jennings (1997)

Three Hamlets that misfired

Alan Rickman (1992): Apathetic, brooding, poleaxed by grief and maybe a death wish, he badly needed more colour, variety, excitement and general pizzazz.

Tom Courtenay (1968): Pedantically reasonable and irked by injustice, this great actor made his fiercest monologue sound as if a head prefect were giving himself a dressing-down.

George Anton (2003): Not his fault that he was in a tricksy production which required him to choke Polonius with a copy of Hello! magazine and have a knife-fight with Claudius, but did he have to murder the verse?

Hamlet facts

The full version is the Bard's longest play, at 4,042 lines (29,551 words)

Hamlet is the longest part in any Shakespeare play, with 1,507 lines

More than 50 women have played Hamlet, including Sarah Siddons (from 1777), Sarah Bernhardt (from 1899, pictured right), Frances de la Tour (1979) and Angela Winkler (2000)

The American company Synetic Theatre produced a wordless version - Hamlet...the rest is silence - in Washington last summer

Hamlet was once performed without Hamlet in it on its second night at the Richmond Theatre in 1787, after its star had an anxiety attack

From across the pond, these votes for film Hamlets:
Olivier for the struggle during the descent into madness; Jacobi for the deterioration of an already-fragile mind; Branagh for controlled fire, a directed madness; Mel Gibson for shammed madness, a means to an end.

Catherine Custis, Columbus, Ohio, US

Natalie Quatermass in April 2007 with the Off the Ground Youth theatre in the Crypt of the Catholic Cathedral. A magnificent performance.

Janet Christine Coyle, Liverpool, England

Best on stage: Sir Ian McKellen in the seventies in a guest performance with the Prospect Theatre Comp. (?) in Vienna.
Brest in film: Kenneth Branagh
Sandra Warnung, Vienna, Austria

Warnung Sandra, Vienna, Austria

harold bloom s book 'poem unlimited is great on all this. i'm having a crack at it myself this year at the stafford festival. i've seen 14 hamlets. rylance bought my heart with laughter. russel beale seemed to be speaking inside my head . olivier and branagh made me want to play it. in this year of hamlets i am hoping no one takes too much notice of my first attempt. but i really hope it wont be my last. JOSEPH MILLSON.

JOSEPH MILLSON, berkhamsted,

1) Ben Kingsley at The Other Place in 1975

2) Mark Rylance

3) Michael Pennington

Would dearly love to have seen David Warner, but wasn't in this country at the time.

Bela, London,

Since most of the English believe in ghosts, i suggest it would be worthwhile to employ some eminent psychic to "raise" the old boy (Shakespeare, that is) and ask him. I would love to see the much under appreciated Gary Oldman give the part a try.

Marilyn Hennessee, Medicine Park, Oklahoma

How can one judge from afar? I suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune for not living in London. But, at least, I can enjoy Mr. Benedict Nightingale's wonderful piece...

Laet Oliveira, Sao Paulo, Brazil, SP

I have always wondered if the role of Hamlet is one that CAN be played to the same level night after night due to its complexity...even more so than other leading roles.
I recall for example that Olivier said he based much of his version on that of John Barrymore, but also know that JB botched that very badly one night in NYC when Stanislavsky attended the theatre...and JB's version was perhaps the first to incorporate the new science of psychology directly into the playing, through his coach Margaret Carrington.
But it would be a true joy to travel in time simply to see Burbidge, Forrest, Irving and others from before any of our memories play the role, then come forward and see all the others, too.

R.P.M. Hart, Aurora, OR, USA

The marvellous Adrian Lester for me.

Laura Girling, London,

Roger Rees RSC 1984
This performance was eloquent and extremely sensitive. Was he feigning his madness or not?
The dialogue lived as the words fell from his mouth and made sense.

Phil, London,

Undoubtedly, Simon Russell Beale was one of the finest Hamlets I have ever seen. His was a luminous performance, depicting a noble man adrift in a dark sea of corruption.

A. Brookfield, Epsom,

Tobias Menzies' H stands out in recent times - a fabulous actor. Danny Webb was marvellous in the international touring production a few years ago, although I couldn't disagee with Mr. Nightingale's top two. Ben Wishaw, anyone? Another for the naughties...

Harold Shand, London,

John Neville
Did Benedict Nightingale see that one?
He should have. The most beautiful of the bunch AND the one of the best spoken, Can't believe it's been left off the list

Keith Dinicol, Stratford,on, Canada

The best Hamlet?
Laurence Olivier - a genius of a performance

Antony Stamboulieh, Vernon, British Columbia Canada

A guy called Simon Binns in ATC's touring version (87? 88?)

paddy fletcher, London, U.K.

The best Hamlet that I have seen was in Rupert Goold's modern production in Northampton, the last play there before a redevelopment scheme a few years ago. The eponymous role was played by
Tobias Menzies.

J Sampson

J Sampson, London,

For me, the best Hamlet was Paul Gross at the Stratford Festival (Canada) in 2000. I never really cared for Hamlet before I saw his performance. Mr. Gross so well communicated this tortured soul with the audience -- I finally truly understood his grief, anger, revence, passion, and sorrow. He brought the story alive for me and of all the Hamlets I've seen since, his still resonates with me.

Christy Foreman, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

For me, it would have to be Alun Lewis, back in the early 80s. He perfectly captured the bipolar nature of Hamlet's character. One minute manic, the next in the depths of self-loathing and depression. It was a wonderfully edgy performance that left the audience never quite sure of what he was going to do next. He brought unpredictability to what can often be a merely challenging part.
I've since seen over a dozen different productions of Hamlet, and he remans the best, in my opinion.

ThÃ©rÃ©sa Hedges, Guildford,

From over here in Canada - Colme Feore played a perfectly unbalanced Hamlet at Stratford Ont. His movie work pales - his stage work shines.

Errol Fraser, Toronto, Canada

Kenneth Branagh's 'Hamlet' was very good, and he is in the list of the best that you have compiled, but so too was David Warner's 'Hamlet' for the RSC at the Aldwych bloody good in 1966/67 and which production I think had Glenda Jackson as Ophelia.

Pete, NW London,

"The perfect Hamlet" is like "the secret of life" in Wilde - there is none.

However, I would agree with the critic that Simon Russell Beale is as good as any one actor can give. I saw him at the National, and have just refreshed my memory with his audio recording.

The first Hamlet I saw was Richard Hampton with the Youth Theatre, and others have included Jeremy Brett, Peter O'Toole, Alan Howard, Albert Finney, Derek Jacobi, Alan Dobie - and the Trevor Nunn production at the Old Vic, in which we saw Al Weaver give an excellent Hamlet. My wife nominates this one as the best production, in fact.

I wish I'd seen all the others that Mr Nightingale has seen - but I wouldn't remember as much about them as he does. Most things I've missed I can say "You can't do everything" about - but I specifically wish I'd acquired the taste for Mark Rylance's acting in time to catch his Hamlet.

Roger Sansom

Roger Sansom, Hainault, Essex, U.K.

Many people have already said that the first Hamlet is always special - as mine was because it was David Warner on the day England won the world cup (I was given the ticket by someone who wanted to watch the match!). Every age has its definitive Hamlets and David Warner's was certainly one for the mid 60's.
I have missed so many I wanted to see but still rejoice that I saw that one (3 times!)

Diana, Gozo, Malta

Branagh at the Barbican was pretty wooden in his Ibsenesque
production.

By a massive chalk the best Hamlet was Robert Lindsay at the
Royal exchange in Manchester. I had to see it twice.

regards

Nick Parker, Altrincham, England

DAVID WARNER ... I saw his performance on five occasions and cried every time. It is a shame that the performance was never filmed.

K Johnston, Leicestershire, UK

I'm too young to have seen Olivier on stage, but I saw both Simon Russell Beale and Branagh and thought them awful! The best Hamlet has to be David Threlfall...

MG, Leiden,

How about getting some Hamlets to nominate their top ten theatre critics?

L A Bassett, London, UK

Derek Jacobi made me feel I was in the presence of one of the fabled masters of the stage when I saw his Hamlet back in the '70s. I can still remember where I was sitting in the theatre during that performance. I've long regretted that I did not see Alan Howard perform the role, [with Helen Mirren as Ophelia] as I think he is one of the greatest Shakespearan actors of our time. I also wish I'd seen Daniel Day Lewis's performance, especially on the evening where he was replaced by Jeremy Northam, his understudy. My mother did and said Northam acquitted himself superbly. I have always wished that this fine actor could have had the chance to create his own version of the Dane. I much enjoyed Michael Pennington's performance at the time but it has not stayed withe me. Here in Sydney, Richard Roxburgh was a stunning lightning strike of a Hamlet at the Belvoir St Theatre, 8 or so years ago. A brilliant performance. And now, I am very much looking forward to seeing Tennant in October.

Ana, Sydney, Australia

The greatest? Alan Howard, no contest. - Anthony Baker, Winscom be, Somerset

Anthony Baker, Winscombe, U nited Kingdom

Innokenty Smotkunovsky's 1960s rendition was an outstanding portrayal - Hamlet as Prince Myshkin.

aleksandra rodzinska, Warsaw, Poland

I suppose it is a generational thing, really. Derek Jacobi for Prospect in 1969 was, for me, a truly mind -blowing experience. I queued for two further nights for returns at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, and would have gone every night if I had been able to afford it! I have seen many Hamlets since and for me Simon Russell Beale and Kenneth Branagh are the two who came near to capturing those first feelings of ecstasy at seeing truly great acting of a truly great play.

Judith Pearson, Cleckheaton, England

Derek Jacobi at Oxford mid 70s. Kenneth Branagh early 90s. Master and disciple, both unforgettable. Far and away the best two for me

David Ridgus, Reading,

What about Richard Burton's Hamlet at the Lunt Fontane Theatre on Broadway..?
There is a recorded copy of this still available and even though the quality is rather poor, you can still see the extraordinary power and intellect of his Hamlet. Sharp, witty, loving and dangerous. Seems to converge the two groups of Hamlets we have seen since then...the princely and unprincely, the hero or the intellectual ....way ahead of anyone else.

phillip barnett, brighton,

My first Hamlet I saw was David Warner, a sort of 'beatnik' Hamlet for the 60s. That left an impression. The very best was unquestionably Derek Jacobi's at the Old Vic for Prospect Theatre. Given totally straight, it made an unbelievably powerful impression. The thing is the role is so great that you can play it a hundred different ways and not exhaust the possibilities. The greatest play ever written.

D A Littlewood, Sheffield, UK

My favourite Hamlet was a young David Warner around 1964/5. At the time he gave a magnificent performance, which I have never forgotten. Hamlets may come and go, but this one really made an impression that has stayed with me.

Angie Blaydon, Woking, England

Difficult to separate the Hamlet from the production but:
Best Hamlet â€“ Schofield, followed by Warner(1965), Dillane(1994) and Jennings(1997) in no especial order.
Best production - Peter Hall at the Guilgud with Dillane, but Matthew Warchus's 1997 production a close second.
Best Gertrude, by a mile, Marie McCarthy in the Creation Theatre(Oxford)1998/2001 productions

M. Griffin, Banbury, England

While it is a futile exercise to name the "best" unless we have seen them all, I know I will never forget watching Simon Russell Beale, and how with every word he gave me a new, surprising and deeper understanding of the play. (He's also the best Uncle Vanya I've had the pleasure of seeing.) Sadly, though, I do agree - the rest of the production around him has long since faded from memory. For the piece as a whole, I have to say that the Branagh film was a complete and visual feast.

Mr. Beale may think his being cast was "ludicrous" - I prefer to think of it as genius.

Court, MA, USA

The American company Synetic Theater just opend wordless Romeo and Juliet, it's briliant, wow check this out www.synetictheater.org
after wordless Hamlet...the rest is silence - they produced wordless Macbeth it was fantastic

Paata, Potomac, MD, USA

Richard Burbage,obviously,for whom the part was originally written.

alan maddox, wirral, england

My favourite Hamlet was performed by David Gardner of Hampstead who played the role in a number of beautiful open air venues in the Lot , France in 2001. The sound of his voice resonating over the din of the diners in the restaurants surrounding the arcaded squares, occasional waggish comments from innebriated british holiday makers and the odd dog walking on stage in an impromptu animal performance all made this most memorable.

J Hudson, Bridgetown, Barbados

I have also seen at least 40 Hamlets - the very best of these were Paul Scofield in 1958, very princely and moving with wonderful diction, and Daniel Day-Lewis in about 1985 (?) Unbearably moving - his father had just died and he could only manage a few performances before, I think, he had some sort of a breakdown. Sorry you missed those two, they were both unforgetable.

Diana Heywood, Daglingworth/Cirencester, UK

Branagh's is the best I've seen, but I wished I could have seen Oskar Werner do it.

William Longyard, Winston-Salem, NC USA

Kenneth Branagh was an interesting Hamlet. He conveyed the madness with an intense energy . The one scene I remember was his rejection of Ophelia. "Get thee to a nunnery.." His physical presence and energy in the role. He is such a wonderful actor. I saw him play Richard III he was fanastic!!

Ralph Fiennes lacked the emotional energy of the role but he certainly conveyed the element of revenge. When he stood on the stage, his steel blue eyes glinted and when the players had gone. He clasped the energy of the line "The plays the things were in I'll catch the consience of the King."

I I have seen many actors play Hamlet from Kenneth Branagh (1992) , Ralph Fiennes (1995) and Toby Stephens (2004). All of which were excellent.

Amanda Meyer, London ,

Sam West, without a doubt. The teen angst-ridden Hamlet, wearing a hoodie, cast a new light on the entire play, and it's ability to reach out to everyone's inner turmoil, whether it be the battle for self-knowledge or striving to find one's place in the world. His charming looks certainly helped, as well...

Lucy, London, UK

Cant go past Rangiteiki Players in the 60s - storms battering the tin roof and half the cast mildly drunk on NZ sherry and terror - Hamlet was a pig farmer from the backblocks and Ophelia a herd tester from Ireland - great stuff and the packed audience loved it. As they said in the interval (cooling drinks and finger food provided by Federated Farmers Wives) 'How do they remember all those words - its a miracle' and it was.

JA Lamont, Wanganui, NZ

Mention must be given to Keanu Reeves in the1995 Manitoba Theatre Centre production. He was a not-half-bad dude and, would you believe, actually garnered some pretty decent reviews. Who woulda thunk it??

Jay Williams, Toronto, Canada

Simon Russell Beale is about the best Iâ€™ve seen on stage, but I wouldn't want every Hamlet to be like his; the role is too multidutinous to be encompassed by one actor.

Bernice W. Kliman, Glen Head, New York

olivier, say no more !
edward willia, mcgrain - usa

edward w mc grain, stony brook, usa/ new york

The most enthralling Hamlet I ever encountered was that of Brian Bedford at the Liverpool Playhouse, 1955/56 season.
The memory of his overwhelming encounter with the ghost of his father is still electrifying (I was playing Horatio) and the metabolism and sense of purpose enkindled in this young
and extremely sensitive young man drove the play to a pitch I have never again experienced either as a fellow performer or as a member of an audience.
A searing characterisation engendered by the advice given to BB by Sir John Gielgud to "be yourself"!

dr terence knapp, honolulu, Hawaii USA

I read somewhere that Hamlet being Shakespeare's longest role is a myth; it's actually Iago. Alas, I haven't taken the time to count.

Ben Sanders, Toronto, Canada

It has to be Derek Jacobi - there can be no other. He is the only one who has captured and conveyed Hamlet's indecision and procrastination with conviction. He alone understands Hamlet, as though he has been there. Jacobi's performance is enhanced because he is the only actor in the pantheon of English theatre who has a voice to match that of John Gielgud.

He first played Hamlet to acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe while he was still a sixth former. Who can match that?

Alan McMurray, Eastcote, Towcester, Northamptonshire

"The best Hamlet". Must rank with "the best teacher" or "the best meal". Utterly pointless. Also, unless we have had the opportunity to see these 40 Hamlets how can we possibly comment?

Brian Hardy, Nantwich, England

Stacy Keach performed the role in New York's Central Park about 30 years ago. His performance was so outstanding that there were efforts to take the production to Broadway, but scheduling difficulties intervened. I have seen quite a few Hamlets, including Branagh, Beale, and Fiennes, and all were very fine, but Stacy Keach remains my favorite.

John Mahon, New Rochelle, NY, USA

Toby Stephens without a doubt.

Chris, London,

Ralph Fiennes? He was the absolutely worst Hamlet I've ever seen. Emotional range from A-B. I sometimes wonder if he can act at all or if he only seems to be acting in roles that require suppressed emotions.

Jeff Myers, Reisterstown, MD

Was Mel Gibson's Hamlet so bad that he doesn't get a mention ?

Philip Lucas , St Angeau, France

I have not seen that many, but Derek Jacobi and Michael Pennington stand out by miles, for different reasons.

I like Kenneth Branagh's film Hamlet very much, except that whenever Claudius comes on screen - played by Jacobi - I cannot take my eyes or ears off him. His verse speaking is the best I have ever heard. Everyone else on the screen simply ceases to exist. I persist in my view that in terms of virtuosity, emotional truth and acting transparency, Derek Jacobi is the greatest actor of our generation by a very, very long way indeed.

I would like to have seen Ralph Fiennes try Hamlet, except that I saw him play Richard II in a hopelessly underpowered performance, which led me to suspect that Fiennes is a great screen actor, but simply does not have the technique for the stage.

Mark Brafield, Guildford

Mark Brafield, Guildford,

Daniel Day-Lewis because he furnished his own ghost father for the production

Joe Orton, cincinnati,

It has to be Olivier every time !!!

Ian Payne, Walsall,

Without a doubt, Derek Jacobi was one of the great Hamlets. I am amazed he was left out of your list. Its over 20 years since I saw his performance but it still resonates in my mind.

J. Reeve, Wakefield,

If Simon Russell Beale played Hamlet with "a haunted other-worldliness" then Benedict Nightingale's existence thus far must have been crushingly mundane. Beale was, by his own brave admission, (not brave enough to decline the part), hopelessly miscast and as a result, his performance was a travesty of the play itself and, more heartrendingly, Hamlet the man. Rylance's '89 Hamlet, (attended by the most diverse audiences I have ever seen) saw a grief-striken, near-psychotic, (those who saw the play will recall his unhinged cry of "Moth - er" through the castle as he lurches towards the Closet Scene), violently poetic and psychologically graceful man: unparallelled!

joanna murphy, petersfield, hants

My mother ,Nancy Nevinson (90 this year ) , toured India in Gielguid's production of Hamlet in the forties . She says the best Ophelia she has ever seen was Sir John Gielguid . They were having an understudy rehearsal in a tiny hot room somewhere & the Ophelia understudy was ill so Sir John played the part . My mother said it was a most brilliant moving performance .
She also thinks that Sir John's Hamlet was the best ever .

Nigel Nevinson, Massongy, France

Dear Sirs,

The best Hamlet

Kenneth Branagh was Hamlet. We telephoned. We rushed to Stratford-upon-Avon. We saw. We ambled out of the theatre, stunned. My friend Elizabeth, still under the magic of the play declared "Now I can die".
I believe she had also seen Laurence Olivier's many years before. So Kenneth it is.
Yours sincerely
Roly Barrington (Mrs)

Roly Barrington, Lawrenny, Pembrokeshire, Wales

I have seen Hamlet on stage dozens of times, from The National Theatre to local School productions. I carry the words with me as a comforter.

I was simply in awe of the Hamlet I saw played by Simon Russell Beale. I could not believe its originality. I believe I saw it three times, booking the second visit the day after the first.

There is no 'correct' answer. But for me - Simon Russell Beale

Stephen Bluestone, London, England

Simon Russell Beale, for all the reasons mentioned in the article.

Sarah Dixon, Maidenhead, UK

Derek Jacobi gave the definitive performance.

L.A. Seman, Broadview Heights, Ohio

Back in 1966, reading English at Birmingham University, I was privileged to see David Warner's Hamlet at Stratford. By turns bewildered, vulnerable, sly and passionate, he brought to life my own reading of the part. (Also memorable was Elizabeth
Spriggs as Gertrude, spewing all over the stage in the final
scene!) For me, his was the definitive Hamlet. I read in a recent "Times" magazine article that he is back on the British stage. What a shame he left it so long!

Beryl Meghnagi(nee Freedman), Edgware, Middlesex

Your pedestrian performers aside, unquestionably, the greatest Hamlet stage portrayal was by Bugs Bunny in a Warner Bros. cartoon. I would have given greatly to see the live performance on stage. But, living here in the provinces I have only seen the filmed version. Alas, and alack!

larry gooch, Baton Rouge , USA Louisiana

My late aunt (formerly of New York) had the pleasure of seeing John Barrymore in Hamlet, she said he would be the best ever, but I wish I could have seen both he and Edwin Booth to compare performances from that bygone era. Booth had the eyes for Hamlet.

katy, west yarmouth, MA/USA

The best Hamlet I've ever seen was played by a woman (sic!!!), a Polish actress Teresa Budzisz - KrzyÅ¼anowska. (TV version)

adj, Gdansk, Poland

Olivier's Hamlet was my first and it stayed with me. But it was heavily cut - It wasn't until I saw David Warner in the part at Stratford that I realised just how long a play it was. Before the performance, he walked across the road in front of me, hands in the air and head bowed, rehearsing his lines. I loved that production, and Warner's lanky, unsure Hamlet. Was less keen on Kenneth Branagh's interpretation.

I saw Peggy Ashcroft as Gertrude in Stratford too, but can't remember which production it was or who played Hamlet. It was during the sixties or seventies, but I didn't think it was Peter Hall's production with David Warner. Can anyone enlighten me?

Suzie, Hebrides, Scotland

Possibly it's just that you never forget your first... but I have David Warner very high on my list of most memorable Hamlets. The RSC under Peter Hall seemed almost incapable of doing anything badly in the mid-1960s - it was a very good time to go the theatre!

Gill Bullen, Southampton, UK

For what it's worth, my father, who was a student at RADA during the war and saw a number of legendary performances in the '30s, '40s and '50s, always claimed that Robert Helpmann's Hamlet unexpectedly outshone all the others. My money (from this disadvantaged, dark side of the world) would be on that erratic genius, Nicol Williamson's filmed performance.

John Francis, Lauderdale, Tasmania

You are dead wrong about Richard Burton's Hamlet - have you seen the film of the 1964 NY production. He is intelligent, moody, angry and powerful and you have no doubt that he is a Prince who is able to speak the lines with conviction and truth, and finally sorrow.

Brian Madden, Milford, MA/USA

Adrian Lester at the Young Vic in 2001. Director: Peter Brooks. I've seen about 16 productions of Hamlet over the years and Lester's performance resonated with me in ways that none have before or since.

Rest of the cast was a bit uneven but you can't have everything.

I'm hoping Benedict Nightingale is referring to a performance by Mark Rylance OTHER than the hideous display he put on at the Globe back in 2000, where Rylance reduced Hamlet to a pantomime; truly appalling.

KM, London, UK

I would go along with John Neville. I was an impressionable 20 at the time and I have always remembered it. I did not realise that Judi Dench and Coral Browne played Ophelia and Gertrude. Thanks to the first comment from Robert French from London for that.

Kevin Dinnin, Watton at Stone, Hertfordshire, England

My favourite Hamlet was performed by David Gardiner of Hampstead who played the role in a number of beautiful open air venues in the Lot , France in 2001. The sound of his voice resonating over the din of the diners in the restaurants surrounding the arcaded squares, occasional waggish comments from innebriated british holiday makers and the odd dog walking on stage in an impromptu animal performance all made this most memorable.

J Hudson, Bridgetown, Barbados

Richard Burbage,of course.
No contest.

alan maddox, wirral, england

I think Mel Gibson's Hamlet is worthy of mention.

Bill, Vancouver, Canada

Absolutely no doubt - it is Simon Russell Beale.

Maria, Toronto, Canada

One's first Hamlet is always special. Mine, in 1956, was Paul Scofield's, produced by Peter Brook. Unforgettable as at 13 I did not know the play. The excitement as the end neared was an unrepeatable experience. The critics didn't make much of it, but it lives on in my memory as one of the finest.
Richard Morrison, rightly, mentions Michael Pennington's 1980 performance. His earlier Hamlet when a Cambridge undergraduate was very special also.
Indeed several school Hamlets linger in the memory as the part always seem to bring out the appropriate angst in those lucky enough to be given the chance. I was one of the lucky ones, alternating as Hamlet and Horatio,
a shrewd insurance by the producer against house match injuries and seeing the 'other' Hamlet emerging in the months of rehearsal was a unique insight.The reviewer tactfully said that Dogberry had had the last word on comparisons and that he had no intention of saying which Hamlet was best. But Scofield always was for me.

richard, Banbury,

Toby Stephens channels the Prince.

Dave , Palm Harbor,

Without doubt my choice would be Derek Jacobi's Hamlet at The Old Vic. It was magical to watch.
His live performance was in a class above the filmed Hamlet for the complete works of Shakespeare undertaken by the BBC.

c.bevitt, nottingham, uk

That is a question indeed.
I first saw Hamlet in a school gym with Olivier in the lead role. I was shocked by his blondness as I had a vision of a dark-haired, brooding prince.
I guess he is the quintessential Hamlet for me though I have seen strong perfomances by Gibson and Branagh.
I think it is Shakespeare's words themselves; no actor has caught the spirit of Hamlet yet for me. He's still out there waiting in the wings.
Mary, Canada

mary barnes, wasaga beach, canada

I agree wholeheartedly with John Eastman that DAVID WARNER was, to me, the definitive Hamlet, who was precisely the right age for it and caught the tortured indecisiveness and sardonic humour of the character, in a Royal Shakespeare production that I saw in London at the Aldwych theatre around 1963. Olivier was magical and poetic and terribly sexy (as he always was!) but too old for the part. The other superb Hamlet was a great Russian actor called Innokenti Smoktunovski in a wonderful moody film in the mid-60's that perfectly caught the play's sinister, brooding atmosphere. But DAVID WARNER was the best of my generation, no question.

Maggie Southam Ferrari, MIDHURST, WEST SUSSEX UK

Adrian Lester at the Young Vic (2000? 2001)

S.H., London,

I saw a film of christopher Plummer playing Hamlet at elsinor. This was some time ago and I had already been through Burton, Gielgud, and Olivier. It was as though I had never heard those lines before. He was able to invigorate the soliloquies with a freshness that made it seem the wordswere just an extention of his existential existance. I am naught but a drama instructor and department chair in the states, but that fil made an indelible impression on me

Karen Greenberg, New Orleans, Louisiana

For my money the best was John Neville at the Old Vic 1957-8
He was a Prince but with vengeance in mind. The verse was spoken so well you immediately understood it and the whole
production was so clear and uncluttered it just swept you along. With Coral Browne as Gertrude and a young Judi Dench
as Ophelia who could forget it. Other Hamlets seen include
McKellen, David Warner, Richard Chamberlain, Derek Jacobi, Simon Russell Beale etc., but none of them have stayed in the memory like Neville.

Robert French, London, UK

For me Derek Jacobi is my favourite Hamlet. He still makes me weep in the closing scenes.
He most closely captures the indecison of the "to be or not to be" speech--surely the character flaw on which the play is based.

Prof Charles Hart, Jacksonville, U.S.A.

Michael Malone without doubt. We saw him at the Theatre Royal in Bath, and were so full of it that we felt unable to go home immediately afterwards and went went for a coffee to talk about it

trish, bath,

It is interesting that in almost all the discussion hardly anything yet has been said about how the verse was spoken. Shakespeare wrote poetic drama. Of course it matters how an actor interprets the character of Hamlet, but if he doesn't speak the verse properly, you miss somthing of fundamental importance. This is why Gielgud's was such a great Hamlet. Also, from all reports, was Michael Regdrave's. Of modern Hamlets, I believe Jacobi understood the importance of the verse more than most. One other point. Some people feel that in order to play Hamlet, one should be a comic, rather than a tragedian.

Richard Ritchie, London, England

Alan Dobie at St George's Islington in the 1970s. He was too old really but the way he spoke the verse and made it sing was sublime.

Kay , Chelmsford,

Don't forget David Warner's long scarfed student in a great Peter Hall (if memory serves) production. (Warner's Lear was also one of the greatest - why didn't it come to London?) I also recall fondly Ben Kingsly in the Round House (?) in Buz Goodbody's (?) production. And why no mention of melifluous Gielgud whom few of us may have seen but all should have heard?

John Eastman, London,

Definitely Alan Cummings. Saw him when taking thirty-odd schoolgirls aged 12- 13 to experience a live performance of the play. Although they had been to Shakespeare plays before, I was expecting a certain amount of restlessness. Not a yawn, not a fidget. Only rapt attention, laughter (at the right places) and a few teary eyes at the end. I won't forget the performance and I doubt that some of them will either. As one of them said at the time, " I really cared about him."

Eve Edmunds, Kent,

Mel Gibson powerful version is the best. Desperatly human.

cd, Paris, France

Christopher Eccleston won my heart over with his captivating performance of Hamlet at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Jennifer, Reading,

Derek Jacobi at the Old Vic nailed it for me. But I was bored rigid by Fiennes.

The best film Hamlet was Forbes-Robertson. The film's primitive, he's in his sixties, but he just looks so right.

david, Ely,

I've missed a lot of Hamlets I wanted to see - since I first saw them on stage I longed to see what Ralph Fiennes and Simon Russell Beale would do with the role. But the Hamlet I'll never forget is Ian McKellen's, which I saw at a matinee on a school trip. (One of the teachers accompanying us said nothing would match the first Hamlet she saw - John Gielgud.) Jonthan Pryce also sticks in the mind. The other defining performance I've seen in the play was Timothy West as Claudius, making sense of a role that's often one-dimensional. This was a likeable and plausible king. Derek Jacobi was a good Hamlet in the same production - probably among the best productions of the play I've seen. But the most exciting overall was the Quarto Hamlet at the Orange Tree - a thrilling evening that must have had all the pace and excitement that Shakespeare's first audiences experienced.

kath bell, Nottingham, England

On stage: Rylance
On film: Branagh

For me, the real problem with the play is not Hamlet, which is a difficult enough role, but the frequent mismatches between Hamlet and the other characters. To me, that's the great failing of most of the filmed versions, in particular Olivier's: It's hard to deny the power of Olivier's performance, but for the middle two-thirds he might as well be on the stage with stand-ins who are just reading lines to help him get the timing down.

C.E. Petit, Urbana, Illinois (USA)

Ralph Fiennes - a standout. Managed brooding, noble and funny - all in the one scene.

Jackie, Melbourne, Australia

I've seen film excerpts of Ralph Richardson's, Nicol Williamson's, Kline's and Burton's performances and have studied Olivier and Brannagh's performances in detail. I used Kenneth Brannagh's film to teach the play because it's so comprehensive and has many great performances in it but am very fond of aspects of the Olivier film, which is so grand and romantic.

Kate Winslet made the best Ophelia so far, I think...

Elan Durham, Santa Monica, CA/US

Didn't like Franco Zefferelli's direction, but greatly admired the fire, paassion and poetry and wit of Mel Gibson's Hamlet.

Cynthia Grenier, Washington, DC, USA

Many years ago I saw Nicol Williamson perform "Hamlet". There is film of the same performance directed by Tony Richardson. This to me remains the finest most intelligent Hamlet portrayal I have ever seen.

Alan Gould, Tujunga, CA. USA

Which of Nightingale's choices has/have been filmed (which is available to the public) ?

stanley hersh, new york city,

I saw Derek Jacobi in 1977 when I was 15 and it 'switched' me on to Shakespeare... Fantastic...

kari saunders, chelmsford,

"Who was the untimate Hamlet?" Well, that depends on how you define "untimate". My preferred definitions are "the most tardy" or "least punctual", although I am sure that your readers can think of better definitions.

Faustino, Brisbane, Australia