Hamlet (Park Avenue Armory)
Closed 3h 30m
Hamlet (Park Avenue Armory)
84

Hamlet (Park Avenue Armory) NYC Reviews and Tickets

84%
(125 Ratings)
Positive
91%
Mixed
7%
Negative
2%
Members say
Great acting, Great staging, Absorbing, Ambitious, Clever

Alex Lawther stars in director Robert Icke's acclaimed production of Shakespeare's tragedy.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (125)

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70 Reviews | 6 Followers
100
Great staging, Must see, Intelligent, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You like absorbing dramas, especially Shakespeare. The set allowed the words to stand out. Excellent acting.

Don't see it if Just see it. Read the synopsis and sit back and let this great story sink into your soul.

53 Reviews | 6 Followers
100
Profound, Intelligent, Great acting, Clever, Absorbing

See it if You love Shakespeare and are a big fan of Hamlet. This production is truly a gift. The acting is superb. Very creative.

Don't see it if You do not know or care for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This production is three hours and 45 minutes. Beware!

536 Reviews | 279 Followers
99
Intelligent, Great staging, Great acting, Exquisite, Absorbing

See it if you want to see "Hamlet" with a contemporary spin. Icke's staging is mesmerizing. Great to hear The Bard's language spoken beautifully.

Don't see it if you can't sit through a four-hour running time. Chairs can be uncomfortable. If you sit too far back, you'll be lost.

204 Reviews | 56 Followers
98
Must see, Masterful, Epic, Great acting, Exquisite

See it if Shakespeare is liquid gold in iambic pentameter. Run to see this fabulous production of a true masterpiece I beseech thee

Don't see it if Bad seating really inhibits hearing, move up Know the plot and characters before you come Read more

292 Reviews | 68 Followers
98
Must see, Masterful, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if Robert Icke's production is mesmerizing! Alex Lawther gives a young and superb Hamlet. This is a first rate 5 star Hamlet.

Don't see it if Don't miss it! I can't wait to go back.

372 Reviews | 84 Followers
98
Riveting, Mesmerizing, Stunning, Ambitious, Simply brilliant

See it if EVERYTHING was stunning__sound, music, staging, performances, lighting, costumes. Just stupendous. I was floored. Can't stop talking about i

Don't see it if It is long. Four and half hours long. Be ready--- but worth seeing for sure. I'm so glad I went. I would like to see it again.

91 Reviews | 6 Followers
97
Riveting, Masterful, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You want to see Shakespeare at its finest, with actors fully inhabiting their characters and ingenious line readings.

Don't see it if You are not the kind of person who enjoys roughly 4 hours of Shakespeare. Know thyself. It’s ok if that’s not your thing. Read more

419 Reviews | 52 Followers
96
Ambitious, Intense, Great acting, Great staging, Absorbing

See it if Accessible masterclass in acting and production. Alex Lawther is mesmerizing … the nuances are huge.

Don't see it if Loses a little steam as end nears (or maybe just a long 3+ hours).

Critic Reviews (13)

The New York Times
June 30th, 2022

"'Hamlet' is one of the Shakespeare plays that most suffers from diminishing returns — adaptations that try too hard to innovate, to render a classic modern and hip. Though Icke’s protracted production occasionally falls into that trap, ultimately the creative team’s visual and technical prowess — along with its provocative young lead — make this a tale of musing, mania and murder for our age."
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Time Out New York
July 1st, 2022

"4/5 Stars! With perennial troubled-youth portrayer Alex Lawther as the great Dane, Shakespeare's ghost story becomes an unsettlingly contemporary tale of insurmountable and all-consuming grief... In Lawther's tormented performance, familiar soliloquies take on fresh urgency...Lawther's audacious turn makes up for the production's longueurs."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
June 30th, 2022

"For nearly all of the production’s three hours and 45 minutes, this sort of sound insists on reminding us that 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark,' hammering a nail that has long since been walloped flush."
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The Wall Street Journal
July 7th, 2022

"Ultimately the effectiveness of any 'Hamlet' must reside with the actor playing the title role, and here the results are mixed. As noted, Mr. Lawther’s Hamlet is an antic brat in the early acts, and his recital of the verse largely fails to transmit its lyrical beauty. But by the end of the play, notably in the graveside scene, Hamlet seems to have grown before our eyes to emotional and intellectual maturity."
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Theatermania
June 29th, 2022

"Lucid interpretations of the text and committed performances support a strong directorial vision, which situates itself at the newsworthy intersection of mental health and firearms. Icke's Hamlet would seem to have everything going for it — so why does it feel like such a slog?"
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Lighting & Sound America
June 30th, 2022

This is an up-to-the-minute Hamlet, cool to the touch but roiling with powerful emotions hidden behind an engineered façade of propriety.
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Talkin' Broadway
July 3rd, 2022

"This is a production that mixes art with artifice, with an overlay of quirky design elements that, even when they clash with the onstage action, rarely fail to engage."
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New York Stage Review
June 29th, 2022

"To be or not to be an exhilarating, respectful Hamlet, that’s the question improperly answered through the tragedy’s reappearance. “Remember me,” the Ghost exhorts. Not this time."
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