Riz Ahmed's Tortured Prince Drives Chilling Modern Hamlet Through London's Streets
Screenwriter Michael Lesslie and director Aneil Karia have crafted a stark and severe new interpretation of Shakespeare's timeless tragedy, Hamlet. This intelligent retelling features significant transpositions and cuts, with the original text stripped down considerably and given light modernisations. The result is an austerely challenging reading that stands in stark contrast to more empathetic contemporary approaches to Shakespeare's work.
A Contemporary London Setting of Family Dysfunction
The production transports the classic drama to modern London's world of shady family business operations and profound family dysfunction. The setting features wedding parties, blandly scheming associates, and SUVs speeding through night-time streets, creating a distinctly contemporary atmosphere. In this version, Hamlet bears striking resemblance to characters like Kendall Roy from television's Succession, navigating complex familial power dynamics in a corporate environment.
Riz Ahmed delivers a compelling performance as the prince, horrified by a ghostly vision of his dead father, portrayed by Avijit Dutt. In one particularly chilling scene, the ghost summons Hamlet to a bleak urban rooftop to reveal he was murdered by his brother Claudius, played with hard-faced intensity by Art Malik. This Claudius emerges as a ruthless property speculator who has evicted a tented community led by Fortinbras from prime real estate, adding contemporary social commentary to the classic narrative.
Powerful Performances and Deliberate Adaptations
Timothy Spall brings his considerable talents to the role of Polonius, creating an ingratiating yet menacing character whose murder becomes brutally explicit and violent in this adaptation. This deliberate departure from the original text heightens the production's contemporary edge. Morfydd Clark portrays Polonius's daughter Ophelia, deeply wounded by her former suitor Hamlet's sudden and fanatical coldness, while Joe Alwyn appears as her brother Laertes.
Ahmed carries the production with his portrayal of a character convulsed with weakness and self-hate, driving the narrative forward with intense emotional commitment. The film makes bold choices in adaptation, losing most of the traditional soliloquies that typically help audiences connect with Hamlet's internal struggle, though the iconic "To be, or not to be" speech remains, delivered by Ahmed virtually screaming it at the wheel of his car.
Intelligent Reinterpretation with Contemporary Resonance
This adaptation increases Ophelia's importance slightly by rerouting some of Hamlet's dialogue with Horatio to her character, though it notably loses Ophelia's traditional mad scene, a creative decision that may divide audiences. The production creates a growing miasma of authentic tension as Hamlet retreats into shocked, enraged indecision and confrontational madness intended to embarrass wrongdoers while avoiding actual punitive action.
Overall, this represents an intelligent and focused account of Shakespeare's tragedy that invites contemporary questions. The adaptation allows audiences to consider whether Claudius, however unscrupulous and predatory, might actually be innocent of murder, and whether the ghost's accusation represents Hamlet's hallucinatory delusion or psychosexual projection of his own disgust. There's a rigorous chill to this Hamlet that makes it a distinctive addition to Shakespearean adaptations.
The film is scheduled for release in the UK on 6 February, with a US release following on 10 April, offering audiences on both sides of the Atlantic the opportunity to experience this stark modern interpretation of one of literature's most enduring tragedies.
