To much excitement Jude Law is going to be taking his role as Hamlet to the Broadway stage.
Law has been playing Hamlet on the boards in London for twelve weeks and is set to lift up the whole production to the Broadhurst Theatre. The production is put together by Donmar who also worked on the London production as well. The majority of the cast will also follow Law to the Broadhurst Theatre.
No doubt the casting of Law will cause a serious amount of press coverage which should help ticket sales.
The show has been well received in the UK and Law is hoping American audiences will relate even more to Hamlets state of mind. He explained that Hamlet is going through a painful analysis of himself and his emotions and Law believes many of his famous soliloquies are actually played out in his head. He thinks that this type of introspection and self analysis is foreign to people in England but much more prevalent and understood in the US. He believes the reaction and what audiences take from the performance will be very different on the opposite sides of the Atlantic. It was these cultural differences that made Law want to bring the production to Broadway.
Law also explained that the latest film roles have not really grabbed him intellectually and so he has looked at the Theatre as a means to get that stimulus. He explained it was not part of any plan but he was just doing the work that interested him. He said he had no film roles in the pipeline and he would wait for something to interest him.
The reviews in London have been very positive even from the top level snooty critics. Law explains he does not read reviews good or bad. He reasons that even good reviews make you become too conscious of certain parts of your performance. He said even good reviews tend to point to parts of the performance they were less enamoured with and knowing this makes you over think the part. Bad reviews affect any actor, he recognises that the ego of an actor is a fragile thing.
Law says he has embraced the part rather than being terrified of it as many actors are. He says the lines still endure today because they are so beautifully crafted and the themes of the play still hold true in the modern world. Law and the cast hope to keep the power of the bard’s words but broaden its appeal to a wider and younger audience. Looking at the reaction of London audiences there is not a doubt it will succeed.