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In 2020, she ran 29 marathons in 29 days to raise money for charity.
As advice to a runner, that seems solid enough.
She also avoids tragedy and revelation.
What is the playaboutfor her, and for Cadell?
Why tell us this story?
That eminence seems to have attracted Izzards ambition, but the distance runner in her has eclipsed the actor.
Taking onHamletdoesnt just mean getting it done.
But more often than not, Izzard seems earnestly committed to doingHamletstraight down the middle.
Somewhere around Hamlets sick burn Thrift, thrift, Horatio!
People laugh, as they should, and she cant resist it, and she shouldnt.
Once she warms up, her particular blend of panache and silliness begins to shine through.
Shakespeares theatre was essentially street theatre.
No darkness separated the audience from the cast …
This fabulous, fundamental connection to the audience kept the experience present.
Talking to the house.
Acknowledging the audience as the purpose of the evening, making theatre together.
They could have fooled me.
Most discouraging of all, Izzard doesnt connect with us all that much.
Of course she looks out through the footlights during the soliloquies, but her Hamlet doesntreallyneed us.
Our presenceand thus the whole project were embarked upon togetherlacks urgency.
Mark Izzards cut is heavy on paraphrase.
Its not as if the Izzards are alone here people have been throwing resources intotranslating Shakespeareforcenturies.
But let that go.
Though Izzard may not be seizingHamletby its viscera, she speaks the text with fluency and good grace.
I only wish she had allowed herself less reverence and more freedom.Hamlethas supped full with honors.
What it needs now is playfulness and purpose.
Hamletis at the Greenwich House Theater through March 16.
