THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Maggie O’Farrell, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
Garrick Theatre until February 17, 2024
We know an abundance about Shakespeare’s work, we’ve studied the subtext, the stage plans, the intention, the delineation of the language but less is known about William’s beginnings. The RSC production of Hamnet, an adaptation by Lolita Chakrabarti of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling book, gives us Shakespeare’s early years and the courtship and marriage to Agnes (pronounced Anne – the ‘g’ is silent) Hathaway.
O’Farrell - the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 - delved, researched, and excavated historic background for this project and brings genuine meaning and authenticity to Hamnet. In Chakrabarti's adaptation we learn about his colorful family and tyrannical father and tragically the death of his son Hamnet, taken by the plague and how this informed Shakespeare’s subsequent plays. Tom Varey gives us a believable version of the quixotic Will, perhaps capturing what Shakespeare might have really been like.
The play gives great recognition to Will’s wife Agnes, who came from humble beginnings but possessed conviction and other worldly cleverness, and ironically reveals that she could not read or write. Madeleine Mantock gives an enchanting performance and taking your eyes off her is not easy as she moves naturally, evoking a spirit that very well could have matched Agnes’. Much of women’s history has been recorded and interpreted through men and Maggie O’Farrell credits the courage and intelligence of the women during Shakespeare’s time. We watch how Agnes pushes against the patriarchy and bravely takes to the woods, finding solace and strength in nature, then stumbling upon William. We see innocence and beauty as Agnes and William fall in love, even after he states, ‘I have nothing to offer.’ They fall pregnant and marry in an eerily choreographed wedding scene created by movement director Ayse Tashkiran. Agnes and Will’s hands are bound with white cloth, later the cloth is used to create her pregnant belly and finally the wrapping becomes a death shroud.
In Act 1, we watch the meeting of Agnes and William, then the marriage and on to the arrival of their children Susanna (Phoebe Campbell) and their twins, Hamnet and Judith (Ajani Casey, Alex Jarrett.) The scene time-travels to 1596, a decade later, where we see Judith becoming ill with the bubonic plague. Hamnet looks after her then contracts the plague, leading to his death at just age 11. Agnes and William cope quite differently with Hamlet’s passing. William dives into his work in London and completes Hamlet lamenting and in homage to his lost son.
It takes an attentive, clear head to absorb the intensity of this tale of love and loss. Tom Piper’s minimal set supports the language, the actors and the actions, while the sound design by Simon Baker uses a fiddle to evoke an eerie harbinger of dread to come. Oguz Kaplangi, the musical composer, has created abundantly and for several Shakespeare productions as well as film, TV, dance and has albums out as well. The team was very carefully selected with measured and thoughtful casting and most critically, director Erica Whyman at the helm who amalgamated the creative tributaries.
