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From: ShakespeareAndMore
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  • This is the first I have seen of Kevin Kline doing Hamlet, he was great, tears in the scene I have not seen before. A scene with feeling, that brought you more into his feelings.His words.

  • Comment removed

  • I thought Kevin Kline was excellet as Hamlet. I just hated this freakin' stage production.  The set design in this stage production totally sucks!

  • i'm not a fan of her ophelia...

  • Lets be honest his chest hair is the true star here.

  • Nice yellow teeth

  • So sad

  • sad....... so sad!

  • FAKE AND GAY

  • Good to see an American actor playing Hamlet well.

  • fartles?

  • but will it blend? That is the question!

  • Is this one of the deleted scenes from A Fish Called Wanda?

  • I think his delivery is excellent. Far more emotional than most, and without being melodramatic (see Mel Gibson). The whole scene rests on his acting ability...not set or music. Beautiful.

  • In Kevin's defense, this is one of the hardest soliloquy (if not the absolute hardest) to orate properly. Kudos for at least being willing to try and on film (for future generations to come by and mock XD)...

  • This is a great perfomance. Those putting Kevin down don't even understand what the monologue represents and why his character is portrayed this way.

  • I love the way he does it. He makes it more real than just throwing his arms all over the place, he does it internally and to me more real. besides the way he acted out the rest of the play was amazing.

  • I do like it. Tis a very dramatic scene. thinking about killing himself implies to be depressed to show his feelings while he pronounce it his real emotions

  • What's wrong with you guys? Kevin Kline is great. He is doing this almost like a dream sequence.

  • the worst performance of this soliloquy

  • is it me or is hamlet a wild douchebag. Of course in this situation he's going to be a melancholy suicidal queen. the way this man kline acted out the scene was monotoned but understandable to what he's going through. he's under so much stress of how to kill Claudius that can put a burden on a guy. neway not the best version i enjoy mel gibsons video more..

    any one notice that hamlet was beating the crap out of ophelia. grabbing her shaking her and the scene were he throws the roses at her!

  • I'm not sure I agree with Samuel Johnson. I always thought that Hamlet was thinking about suicide and talking himself out of it. This seems to make more sense when you listen to what Hamlet says. Anyway, is it not amazing we - or at least some of us - can still appreciate this play after 400 years.

  • Hamlet is such an emo jerk. I have no sympathy for him. If he'd actually gotten off his procrastinating ass and done the killing like he was supposed to, then only one or two people would have died at tops. Instead it's his own fault everything got so messy and tragic. The whole play is pretty stupid, actually. Save for the nice, anthology speeches, it's mostly involves obnoxious characters and pointless plot diversions like sodding off to England and looking at a grave -wtf!

  • Better than the Richard Burton version here on youtube, where he looks like he's rushing through it so he can get that drink.

  • lousy teeth

  • this is a great version the timing is better thaN THE SO CALLED LEGENDS

  • I thought this was brilliant! he is really represents the inner trap of depression and anguish - suicide or fight and be killed - -

    Bit like Harry Potter when he chooses to walk into the forbidden forest

    (hahahahah)

  • I like Kline... but this is not as good as I thought he would be.

    Bad direction, I trust.

  • He wasn't too bad! A bit bland in the beginning, but he makes up for it. It isn't an easy monologue to memorize! He is still young, yet, in this production. He does great as Cyrano in his later years. Excellent Ophelia!

  • Kev Kline is an excellent Shakesperarn actor who has won much acclaim on Broadway. This is an instructional vid for high school/college drama students.

  • ugh, shakespeare just sounds better in a british accent! lol

  • He's a great actor but not suited to this.. his face is too comedic!

  • of course he was...burton best...learn your shit

  • @flohthemachine burton also sucks men!

  • i only watched this because in drama class we are trying to be like william shakespear and make plays like this...but this...THIS SUCKS O_O

  • his hamlet isn't a squaking pigeon, as others' versions can be.

  • this is f-cking terrible. she doesn't even know what she is saying. shes just crying and saying words. no acting involved.

  • burton best hamlet

  • @flohthemachine

    uh, no. 

  • Feels to self conscious and unnatural, pretentious someone said before me. Gibson is the best.

  • is it 'desprised' love or 'despised'? he said 'disprised'. and is it 'pith' or 'pitch'? i'm confused 0___0

  • @imayaoilover It's "despiz'd" and "pitch" in the 1604 Quarto, and "dispriz'd" and "pith" in the First Folio. Kilne seems to have split the difference.

  • Finally! Someone who gets it... doesn't over act and gives us an IN THE MOMENT reaction to the soul of Hamlet. Rock on Kevin!

  • @needenqueen

    Kevin graduated from St. Louis Priory School. We named the new theatre after him. He came to give a series of Shakespearean sollilquies at the opening. For the students and monastic community (monks who run the school) he gave a lesson on Hamlet. The entire student body was absolutely riveted. He is a REMARKABLE teacher as well.

  • listen to burton if you want to witness some really bad acting..burton's a cunt!

  • Mel Gibson is mush worse than this

  • good good good. but not definitive.

  • its not bad...it just seems so casual in the beginning and stiff the rest of the time

  • very bad

  • I was rather surprised by this, I think it was rather good. I had heard Kevin Kline was not a very good Shakespearean actor, but this was pretty quality.

  • Wow, this is soooo bad. Just...wow...... wow

  • I thought he was pretty good.

  • hes good, but the lack of movement takes away. he could prolly convey a lot more than just looking forward like a mannequin

  • @BowlboKhabra92 ur wrong. he actually totally sucks donkey ballz

  • @BowlboKhabra92 you got me there

  • What a horrible, boring, lifeless, pretentious version.

  • Is there a worse, more obvious, less talented, obtuse, and offensive actor than Kevin Kline?

    I think not.

  • ew i hate this version.

  • Kline schools Gibson and Branuagh in what it means to actually understand what you are saying, and most importantly to have thoughts before you speak and trying to solve the situation.  Bravo. But, he doesn't seem to be embodying the text at all though. Very zombie faced and stiff.

  • I love this version because Kevin has plenty of emotion, it is just so subtle that it doesn't leap out at you right away.

  • Is this guy a plank? I think he forgot that part of a play is visual, but his vocal expression is to die for.

  • @tequixote A plank? Puhleez.

  • Kline's version would work on radio but I think it's too understated. Ophelia's boring in this.

  • very wooden on her part

  • as far as emotion and language are concerned, I think they're both equally important. If youd on't play the emotion of the scene, then the scene is dead. If you don't play the language, though, the scene is still dead. That's why I love Branagh and Gibson's performances. They showed different aspects of both. I love Kevin Kline, but this Hamlet is kind of dead. I always saw Hamlet as more emotional as well as eloquent. In fact, in this play, it's his emotion that gets undoes him.

  • Beautiful. I had never seen this before. I liked Kline already.

  • Playing the emotion is not the point moron. Playing the language is! Shakespeare will be the first one to tell you that if he could.

  • So you know ol' Bill personally, do ya? Give him my best, and say hi to Kit Marlowe while you're about it.

  • no one does this better than mel gibson. The emotive way he does it really makes you understand the text.

  • Well done. Not great but he gets better as the scene goes on and he conveys emotion and not just words.

  • He is a little stiff and mono toned

  • detailed and well spoken

  • hmm. i ain't sure why this has to look like some sort of domestic violence abuse scene

  • this saved my presentation, much appreciated.

  • good diction .we can like !

  • @metalman0606 Yeah, his speech is incredibly clear! I always liked that about him. Also, he has really great physicality in this.

  • my teacher reinacts this better

  • This is pretty good.

  • shakespeare is crying right now

    ...

    ...

    really bad

  • @Kcired877 I think actually Shakespeare is smiling from wherever he is now, seeing that we are trying over and over again to enact his plays!

  • Good diction, good for lerning understanding and speaking english, but nothing more than this.

  • anybody can cry on cue, I was not impressed, besides when you realize the futility of existence you get angry not cry like some bitch.

  • lmao best comment

  • the soliloquy is ok but the rest is jus eww !

  • Will Ferrell?

  • this is crazy bad, Hawke's is the best

  • Are you serious?

  • This isn't the best rendition of Hamlet I've ever seen (actually, it may be one of the worst). But Kevin Kline does a good job. Not a great job, but a good job.

    As for Diane Venora as Ophelia in this...ehhh. She's alright I guess.

  • Rubish again! Worst; Gibson, followed by Hawke, followed by Cline, followed by Burton, followed by Law. Decent: Branagh, Olivier. Interesting: Jacobi. Good: Williamson. But the absolute shining star has got to be Arnold Swartszenegger. Hamlet: eat your heart out! Obama: beware!

    To be... or not to be?...

    NOT to be...

  • Poor Hamlet looks really tired and out of it! His soliloquy was just plain sad. Ophelia is as bland as white toast. I really hate the minimalist set design. I think the only thing I liked out of this production of Hamlet was Kevin Kline.

  • some strange choices in there. I had trouble following the moment to moment in this. Hamlet's perspective, nah. Strangely, my favorite version of Hamlet now is the 1961 version made for German television. I understand it now. :)

  • Hey JDKrag: "Why is he crying?" Hmmm perhaps because he just realized the brutal futility of existence, wants so desperately to be released from this prison life, but so terrified of what the afterlife would bring that he has no choice but to endure his waking hell? Or is that not a good enough reason to cry?

  • 8:42

  • ummm... why is he crying at the end?

    I don't get it

  • TheGlario, yes, that is true, but I have also seen Ken's early theater productions or excerpts and I think he delivers these lines much better than Kevin Kline does. Kevin Kline appears in one of Branagh's new movies and I am not that impressed with that performance either. It might just be personal preference, since I understand he was up for awards for his role in that "As You Like it". Personally, I like Kline much better in non-Shakespearean roles.

  • to=2

  • thank you

  • "Love..." haha

  • uw mama is om zeep

  • thanks,this video htlp me a lot with my english literature

  • dick

  • Kevin.... well, hello, when were you.. not just amazing but hot?

  • Kline's Hamlet is too wet for me. His too, too sold flesh really does seem about to melt sometimes. I prefer a little more intellectual fire, as if his extraordinary thoughts were clawing their was out of his head.

  • Admittedly, Kevin does seem to take (an unnecessary forever) with his lines. When he eventually delivers them, though, they are worth the wait. He's embodying the whole "grunting and sweating under a weary life" bit quite brilliantly I think.

  • Kenneth Branagh's is the best...he delivers the lines so realistically and has this scene staged perfectly, viewing his own image in a mirror - brilliant!

    Kline is not bad here, but still not as convincing as I would hope for; the woman is a little too unreal for me....she is more convincing towards the end, but she did not act very emotional when Hamlet was actually speaking to her.

    I have seen Olivier's and I still like this scene best in Branagh's.

  • if im right , in the case of branagh he Is acting in a movie, in this case, IF IM NOT WRONG, kevin is acting in a teathre, branagh is amazing, but i think that you cant compare an teathre interpretation with a movie interpretation, in a movie yu can repeat the scene, and the presure in a teatre scenari is diferent and higher than in a movie.

  • This is probably my favorite scene in the play!!! You go, Kevin Kline!!!!!!

  • No radiation I do not see his inner levels , he is a good actor but Laurence Olivies shadow is chasing him here I can clearly see that..

  • isn't anyone bothered by Ophelia's dropped line?????? "My honored lord you know right well you did, AND WITH THEM WORDS OF SO SWEET BREATH COMPOSED AS MADE THE THINGS MORE RICH. THEIR PERFUME LOST, take these again, for to the noble mind...

  • If he mouthed it, as many players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke Shakespeare's lines.

  • what you want him to blabber like an idiot?

  • Instead of rambling like a sap? Yes.

  • Kline's soliloquy was poorly judged. It's another sad example of the cliched introspection in vogue today. Such a slow and disjointed delivery taxes the patience (there are another 10,000 or so lines to sit through in this play!). I see no good reason for him taking so long. He's just milking the moment.

    Memo to all modern actors: Shakespeare should not be read like Checkov. The Bard was writing 400 years before The Method.

  • Shakespeare is amazing

    Hamlet is a veeeeeeeeery Good play

    i love this soliloquy <3

    thanks 4 uploading

  • I am confused by his moment before. Did he just sprint to get there or something?

  • I think its funny how they keep making out every once in a while in the "Get thee to a nunnery scene." I guess they wanted to try and sex it up a bit.

  • I love Kline!

  • Why oh why does every actor play this scene in such a dull fashion!!! It's as if they're so all conscious of overacting that they don't bother to portray any emotion which makes for incredibly flat drama!! I've yet to a see a version of this soliloquy that does it justice. Anyone agree?

  • It's an incredibly introspective and subtle moment in the drama, where Hamlet contemplates resigning utterly to his defeat. What makes the speech so convincing and jarring is the cool logic with which Hamlet deliberates on such a drastic matter. If an actor did this and took it up much further, it would seem forced and unnatural.

  • I do. I agree.

  • I liked the rest of the scene the way Kline played Hamlet, but yeah, I'm not completely happy with the more introspective and muted soliloquy. I, myself, liked the way Gibson delivered it, though I think Kline is a good Hamlet in his own way.

  • omg i need to remember this soliloquy for my pa lesson..

    its gonna be sooooooo hard!!!!

  • Why is it that nobody seems to know how to do this scene with a believable amount of emotion? Not over-the-top, but not "I'm a star who has no concept of misery, but I play it on TV". Hamlet is contemplating SUICIDE, for Chrissakes! Where's the angst etched on his face? The weariness in his brow? The exhausted mannerisms? I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Apathy is no substitute for depression.

  • What Hamlet have you like?

  • Is he contemplating suicide or is he just wondering if its better to be dead or alive?

  • hes stating -he had just seen his fathers ghost- whether it is for him to dead or alive -so yes you were right- but you should practice some Shakespear terms, lmao, or else you will be lost completely with Shakepear...

  • Shut the fuck up.

  • OMG She was horrible! This is her love whose saying these things to her and shes just staring at him. Terrible actress. Ophelia deserves much jusdice durig this scene. The only moment that was a little redeeming was when she asked for the heavens to help him when he threw her. Its a tell tale sign of a bad actress when you have to cover your face while youre crying.

  • Actually to be honest, she is a terrible actress. BUT if you watch the Branagh version with Kate Winslet as Ophelia she does the same thing. In this scene Ophelia is scared, almost petrified of Hamlet because of his madness. She is offering "the gifts" with a little uncertainty. She does not know how to go about doing so...so she remains quite static.

  • Yes, I do love this scene in the version with Kenneth because of how much more realistic it seems. I love how he breaks down to cry and how she touches his face and says 'heavenly powers restore him'. It just seems so real in comparison. It was well done in that version. I just think that this actress simply isnt good. She can't convey herself well. But I see where you are coming from. :-)

  • I agree, her performance was almost robotic. Her vocal responses seemed late a beat, she moved stiffly, and her voice was just weird.

  • Thank you for seeing my point of view. :-)

  • BRAVO! BRAVO! that is probly one of the best I've seen. I can FEEL the despair in his voice and the AGONY. WONDERFUL!

    *and the tears were a nice touch* ;)

  • i remember this it was on pbs, from the folger festival. it was so good. i like brannagh's also. for all it's over doneness, it was interesting who he cast. but i had all my roommates watching this on a saturday night, no less. it was so good.

  • Hey cool!!!Kevin Kline plays Phoebus in Disney's Hunchback Of Notre Dame!!!♥♥♥

  • Yeah, he's also Tulio from the Road to El Dorado (obviously this is a much more serious role than his cartoon movies).

  • He's really Tulio? I've never seen that movie! Cool! But I still prefer him as Phoebus! =)

  • Comment removed

  • OMG the best movie when i was younger lol

  • To be, or not to be, that is the question...

  • IN THE BEGINNING.......

  • There is a real 'world-weariness' to this performance - 'the pale cast of thought' does indeed hang over each phrase. This monologue is easily the most famous speech in theatre, and many people therefore regard it as a piece requiring an enormous emotional range, with the actor pulling out all emotional stops. However, a (mostly) 'weary, stale, flat' rendition is right! There is some scope for Hamlet to rail in the speech: 'who would bear the whips and scorns of time', etc, but generally not.

  • This speech is a crafted debated with one's self with the audience as partner. Shakespeare's characters often wrestle with passion vs. reason, with reason holding passion in check. Of course, there are many choices one can make with this speech. It seems reasonable that Hamlet would be calm. Anyone who has seriously contemplated suicide knows that you can be quite calm or manic, and the choice seems perfectly logical even when it is not. Hamlet still has fear & conscience and can't kill himself.

  • It's meant to be delivered by a man in abject despair. Hamlet is contemplating suicide for christ's sake. Kline's is better than Branagh's, but still not miserable enough.

  • he still seems too sane... hamlet is one tormented dude... i think hamlet is already mad and whoever plays him should be crazy too... kinda like the joker... you know heath ledger

  • Trust me, being miserable and contemplating the meaning of life doesn't mean you have to outwardly show despair.

  • are you talking from experience? if so, pull yourself together!

  • you don't things like that to a person with clinical depression, sorry to be so harsh, but i've heard enough of such comments. do you tell people with diabetes to pull themselves together and get rid of their disease???

    still, i think Hamlet is the work of the genius!

  • Seems a little overdramatic.

  • Kline sounds like William Shatner in this monologue! Thing is, the spoken rythym of this speech is very awkward, while it is incredibly beautiful to read. Compare with monologue in The Tempest, much easier to speak.

  • why does everyone who attempts this monologue always look like they are holding in a big crap?

    They're just words. Some of the most beautiful words ever written in the English language. But they were only meant to be spoken like words. I always cringe when I come to this part because I know that no matter how good the actor is they will nine times out of ten choke on these simple, yet beautiful words.

    Kline delivers them like he were reading a Chinese takeout menu to himself.

  • ay there;s the rub

  • shuffled off this mortal coil. like thatt

  • Thanks for posting this clip. I'm adding a link to it on ShakespeareFlix.

    Bardprof

  • awesome, I love Kevin and he does not over do it that is great he captures the internal turmoil of Hamlet.

  • Where is the SCULL

  • the skull is in Act V, scene i

  • Jackson Schultz is the best Hamlet ever

  • Kennet brannagh did it better

  • blech

  • y dont u answer to me :'( xjay1234

    the p.arts student

  • y dont u answer to me :'( xjay1234

  • HELLO I AM A PERFORMING ARTS STUDEMT AND I NEED HELP AND ADVICE ON HOW TO PERFORM MY HAMLET PIECE. IS THERE ANYONE WITH ADVICE?

    THANKS!!

    Not Like Kevin Kline he did it so well!!

  • some advice for getting into the mind of hamlet: the action takes place in denmark, but in that day, the english-speaking people were in denmark. although the play has brought the action more up to shakespeare's contemporary time, hamlet came to shakespeare from Saxo Grammaticus and other sources, Hamlet was the title of the king of the English-speaking people. the name also connotes a fool. hamlet's father had been called hamlet too. if you are thinking in english, you already ARE Hamlet.

  • some advice for getting into the mind of hamlet: the action takes place in denmark, but in that day, the english-speaking people were in denmark. although the play has brought the action more up to shakespeare's contemporary time, hamlet came to shakespeare from Saxo Grammaticus and other sources, Hamlet was the title of the king of the English-speaking people. the name also connotes a fool. hamlet's father had been called hamlet too. if you are thinking in english, you already ARE Hamlet.

  • well I performed it already lol was pretty good i might add :) thanks!

  • congratulations on a job well done, and congratulations on landing the role of hamlet in the first place. it is definitely the most sought-after role in all of theatre. with luck you might play him again someday.

  • THANKS :):):)