To hear it from N.Y. Times critic Ben Brantley, Michael Stuhlbarg‘s lead performance in a new Central Park production of Hamlet is “extroverted” and “grandstanding” — the brooding Dane as a “capering overgrown infant, squawking for attention.” Which is no reason to throw stones. If nothing else, this Times-authored slide show suggests that Stuhlbarg is an earnest actor and no poseur.
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Michael Stuhlbarg as Hamlet in the new Delacorte production
Still, if you were short and had flat duck feet (i.e., lacking an athletic arch, the sort of feet that middle-aged German tourists with a penchant for flip-flops are known for), would you play Hamlet without shoes or socks? I’m not trying to be neurotic about this, but I immediately recoiled when I saw these photos.
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