Theater: Prince of Thought

Hamlet. Richard Burton plays Hamlet as Hamlet would like to have been. He may be self-critical, but he is never self-doubting. He is whole of soul, single of mind, undivided of purpose. If the text will not permit him to sweep to his revenge, there is never any question that he is speeding towards it with unblunted zeal. Burton's Hamlet is master of the stage, master of Elsinore, and master of himself. And there's the rub. A masterful Hamlet is more heroic than tragic, and can scarcely evoke the torment of a man who is to be overmastered by fortune and...