The motive and the cue

2 min read

A profound exploration of the battle between art and ego, focusing on the fraught production of Richard Burton’s Hamlet

Cert: 15 Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss, Tuppence Middleton Released: Out now

In 1963 and 1964, two new productions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet combined theatre royalty with the hottest stars on the planet.

In Britain, Peter O’Toole took the role of the titular prince in a production directed by the legendary Laurence Olivier. Broadway’s response to this was to cast Richard Burton, fresh from the landmark release of Cleopatra, and to give Sir John Gielgud the task of bringing it to the stage. The play would be plagued by an infamous rehearsal period, which saw clashes between star and director as both struggled to find a concept strong enough to truly justify the new production.

This is the subject of The Motive and the Cue, a new play written by Jack Thorne and directed by Sam Mendes, now in cinemas across the UK thanks to the National Theatre Live. A far more epic production than its premise might suggest, the play explores the battles between art and ego, age and youth, and questions just why the actor chooses to act. At the centre of this dilemma are Johnny Flynn’s Richard Burton and Mark Gatiss’s Sir John Gielgud. Flynn makes a fine Burton, successfully capturing the man’s larger-than-life persona and rich voice. Like much of the cast, Flynn also has the formidable task of performing Hamlet in-character but proves himself to be more than capable, and the brief Shakespearean interludes are one of the play’s highlights.

But without a doubt the star of the show is Mark Gatiss, imbuing the ageing theatrical giant with a palpable sense of sadness. One particular sequence, perhaps the most moving in the entire play, sees an interaction between the homosexual Gielgud and a young male sex worker. Admittedly, it feels a little superf luous to the rest of the proceedings, but it’s a wonderful glimpse into Giel

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