By choice and necessity, the stage play is a very different proposition from the book on which it is based. O’Farrell, unlike Shakespeare, did not write for the stage; Chakrabarti rightly isn’t in thrall to the much-loved novel, whose emotional pay-off is reliant on an almost theme-park-like immersion into the physical and psychic geography of Early-Modern England. The omniscient narration of a text which shifts constantly between different perspectives and time periods for a readership more likely to visit a therapist than go to confession has been recast for the stage as a more traditional, action-driven, linear narrative.

Employing a captivating cocktail of historical research and speculation, O’Farrell sought to fill the gaps in Shakespeare’s official biography, which provides remarkably little information about his family life in Stratford. Switching between different time periods, the novelist casts Will’s wife, Agnes (usually known as Anne), at the centre of a narrative, which speculates as to whether the death of his eleven-year-old-son provided the inspiration for Shakespeare to write Hamlet. In the process of casting those banished to the peripheries by traditional historiography, O’Farrell does little to puncture the Bardolatry on which the Stratford tourist industry and its plethora of overpriced Shakespeare-themed eateries so heavily relies – quite the reverse in fact. Will could be vilified for deserting an illiterate older wife (whom he had little option in marrying when she falls pregnant with Susanna, the eldest of their three children, followed by twins Hamnet and Judith). Shakespeare’s move to London is, instead, here given an empathetic psychological twist. Fleeing a boorish and financially disgraced father, and becoming a professional playwright in the capital, offer a provincial lad the opportunity for economic and psychic repair, channelling personal tragedy through the stage.

Hamnet (photograph by Manuel Harlan).

One consequence of the RSC play’s linear plotting is the atypical event of an eponymous protagonist’s not being born until just prior to the interval. This is not itself a problem, but it does unwittingly serve to highlight that Hamnet is not so much a three-dimensional human being as a cipher through which an entire family and society are brought to life. The absence of stars in the cast of Hamnet favours an ensemble approach, although, as in Shakespeare’s own plays, not all roles prove equally rewarding. Agnes, to an even greater extent on the stage than the page, is clearly the lead character. Madeline Mantock, making her RSC début, enjoys far more opportunities to shine than Ajani Cabey (Hamnet), in his first major role. The child is depicted in such a one-dimensional, angelical fashion, contracting the plague in part because of his reluctance to leave his beloved twin sister alone to sleep, that it is difficult to identify with him as much as we do with Shakespeare’s multifaceted characters.

O’Farrell’s novel skilfully employed literary devices to exonerate an illiterate character short-changed by history. The RSC program is at pains to note that Agnes’s illiteracy ought not to be taken to imply, as Shakespeare’s biographers have so often done, that she was ignorant. First, most provincial women of the time couldn’t read; second, the written word is not the only form of knowledge. Agnes has a remarkable gift for both medicine and healing. Fans of the novel will likely construe the tendency to privilege exterior actions over inner ruminations as a loss, but the change in priorities serves to eschew much of the anachronisms into which historical novels, and Hamnet is no exception, almost inevitably fall. A quickfire succession of scenes and a kinetic but never-out-of-control pace is a credit to Whyman’s knack for keeping the narrative in motion and bears testament to the key contribution by movement director Ayse Tashkiran.  

The dialogue, much like the costumes and the music (played live on traditional instruments but with nods to more modern-genres such as trip-hop), evoke period details without being overly dependent on the historical record. Detailed descriptions of historical buildings in Stratford have been dispensed with, although Tom Piper’s wooden stage design effectively mirrors the architecture of a Tudor-period cottage. Chakrabarti, born and raised in the resolutely non-picturesque city of Birmingham (just under sixty kilometres from Stratford) has some fun with local knowledge: when Mary, Will’s mother, expresses concern about such a sheltered young man moving to the capital, he protests that he has been to Kenilworth, a small village near Stratford. Whilst Shakespeare’s experiences in London are referred to elliptically through letters in the novel, they are physically re-enacted for the Stratford stage.

A manifestation of the geographical and temporal separation of the interval break is Peter Wight being cast as John (Shakespeare’s father) in the first half and as Will Kempe, an actor in the younger Shakespeare’s company, in the second. This would not warrant comment were it not for an awkward clash between pragmatics and philosophy. Financial imperatives necessitate keeping cast numbers down, but the decision to cast Cabey as both Hamlet and Hamnet is axiomatic to the play’s meaning. In a desire to cater for all, allusions to different texts (the Henry plays, Hamlet, A Midsummer’s Night Dream) keep Shakespeare aficionados alert whilst less elevated dramatic tricks are employed to avoid the casual attendee’s attention from switching off. Eschatological humour is rife with reference to Kempe, whose exaggerated performance style is criticised after the character narrowly avoids following from the Swan’s thrust stage onto spectators seated in the front row.

Shakespeare was, of course, the master of providing edification and entertainment to remarkably diverse audiences – he has few genuine competitors in his own or subsequent ages. I doubt we will be talking about the RSC’s Hamnet in five yet alone five hundred years. Taken on its own terms, however, as a useful reminder of the systematic biases of conventional literary history and as a pleasant evening of middlebrow entertainment, it nevertheless works remarkably well.

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Hamnet (Royal Shakespeare Company) at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon continues until 17 June 2023 and plays at the Garrick Theatre in London from 30 September 2023. Performance attended: May 2. Online performances can be viewed here.