Suzy Eddie Izzard’s one-woman tackle Hamlet is dismissed by critics

If you thought Hamlet’s prospects were grim then spare a thought for Suzy Eddie Izzard, whose valiant attempt at playing every character in this contemporary reworking of Shakespeare’s classic tale has gone down like an egg sandwich on a rush hour tube. 

After a positive response in New York, the versatile actor, comedian and activist has embarked on what could arguably be an over-ambitious undertaking at London’s Riverside Studios, with British fans flocking to see him single-handedly deliver one of the Great Bard’s greatest theatrical accomplishments. 

Across a painstaking two hours, twenty minutes and five lengthy acts, Izzard, 62, plays every character – from the ultimately doomed Hamlet to Danish monarchs Claudius and Gertrude, Polonius, Horatio and Ophelia – hell, he even tackles the ghost of Hamlet’s father. 

Fitting then, that critics are more chilled than charmed by Izzard’s latest project, coming as it does shortly after Andrew Scott’s one-man rendering of Anton Chekhov’s Vanya and Succession star Sarah Snook‘s solo performance of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray. 

But while Scott and and Snook both won critical acclaim – the latter also winning a prestigious Olivier Award for Best Actress – Izzard’s performance has fallen rather short among unimpressed critics. 

If you thought Hamlet’s prospects were grim then spare a thought for Suzy Eddie Izzard, whose one-person presentation of William Shakespeare’s most ambitious play has been savaged by critics  

Izzard with actress Selina Cadell, who directs him in this adaptation of the Great Bard’s work

While admitting her not inconsiderable undertaking is a ‘marathon achievement,’ The Guardian also claims it resembles ‘an avant-garde cabaret, at other times like “bedroom mirror” Shakespeare that should perhaps have stayed that way. 

‘There is humour, but this comes from Izzard’s comic gesturing or added lines (“tedious old git” Hamlet says of Polonius) rather than Shakespeare’s acid satire of Polonius or Hamlet’s wordplay and antic disposition.’ 

They add: ‘Most frustratingly, Izzard uses the same tone for every character, from Claudius to Gertrude to Hamlet himself – and unlike [Andrew] Scott’s one-man Vanya, she gives characters no idiosyncrasies so that those who do not know this text well may well be left at sea.’ 

Giving the play a disappointing two stars, the i Paper writes: ‘Right from the start, it is apparent that Izzard’s take is simply too frenetic, little more than a glossy vanity project, an impressive feat of line-learning. 

‘Izzard’s brother Mark, who has adapted and pruned the text, fatally appears to equate length with boredom and pace with clarity, but I doubt that any spectators not already familiar with Hamlet will emerge from the busy blur of these two hours plus interval much the wiser as to why this is the Mount Everest of canonical plays.’ 

Izzard is taking to the stage months after a similar undertaking in a one-person rendering of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and the Evening Standard were quick to draw unfavourable comparisons between the two performances. 

In a withering assessment, they dismiss it as ‘an act of colossal vanity and hubris, hung on the skimpiest artistic justification. It’s worse than Izzard’s awful solo Great Expectations last year, which at least had a framing first-person narrative.’ 

Offering a rather more generous three stars, The Telegraph praised Izzard’s energy while delivering a subdued critique of the overall performance. 

Izzard was given a round of applause in New York City following the opening night of her one-woman show on Broadway, but hard-to-please Brits have given it the thumbs’ down 

Actress Selina Caddell (left), writer Mark Izzard (centre) and actor Suzy Eddie Izzard (right) accepted respective bouquets of flowers after taking a bow at New York City’s Greenwich House Theater following the play’s launch in February 

They write: ‘Overall, it’s an impressive feat of memory, control and endurance. Still, something’s a bit rotten with the state of a production when the soliloquies – sane, sad and sincere though they be, with the odd hint of ham and whiff of James Mason – are less impactful than the incidentals: the funny business with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – conveyed, literally, by bare handiwork – the eerie, chest-thumping account of Ophelia’s sorrowful sing-song, and the grave-digger’s cockney backchat, redolent of Cook and Moore.

‘The enterprise comes full circle: Eddie’s nothing really like a Dane, a bit like a dame, and a lot like an old-fashioned trouper – a figure of some tragic capacity, yes, but a fellow, finally and most cherishably, of infinite jest.’ 

The Times add: ‘Sometimes there is an affably portentous tone of old-school classical acting. Fatally, though, working alone Izzard can’t do the tension, the heat, the discomfort, the longing. You understand it all, but you don’t believe a word of it. The result is both virtuosic and deeply dull. 

‘It’s hard to know what more the director, Selina Cadell, the movement director, Didi Hopkins, and the designer, Tom Piper — who gives Izzard an empty pale marble room to play in — could do.’ 

Hamlet, Shakespeare’s longest and arguably most challenging play, finds Izzard taking an array of diverse characters – among them soldiers, ghosts, kings, queens, footmen, princes and courtiers.

‘It’s a great challenge but there is no point living and not going for challenges,’ Izzard told the Associated Press shortly before announcing the play 

Izzard originally presentation the play at New York City’s Greenwich House Theater in February, with the comedian playing each part alone from a revised script written by her brother, Mark. 

And he was given a positive response from American spectators, with Izzard, Mark, and actress Selina Cadell – who directs the play – accepting respective bouquets of flowers after taking a bow.

‘It’s a great challenge but there is no point living and not going for challenges,’ Izzard told the Associated Press shortly before announcing the play. ‘You’re just at the edge of your skill set and pushing out even further.

‘I want it so that 10-year-old kids can grab this. I want it for the people who don’t find Shakespeare easy, like I didn’t when I was a dyslexic kid.’ 

Caddell, whose diverse TV and film career includes roles in The Catherine Tate Show, Victoria Wood, Doc Martin and The Madness Of King George, added: ‘I have always gravitated towards playing complex and challenging characters and Hamlet is the ultimate.

‘This is a production for everyone, a timeless drama with an accidental hero. Selina, Mark and I want audiences to see and hear an accessible, touching, scary and dramatic Hamlet.’