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.
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.
