Review: Hamlet

At the heart of humanity

Eero Aho is the frenzied and magnificent Prince Hamlet of Denmark.

KARI HEISKANEN has boldly directed William Shakespeare’s Hamlet for the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre. The concise, compact interpretation brings the events set in Helsingør, Denmark, into a timeless time, and is therefore free of time and place. And that is why it is also able to clearly examine human actions, such as wrongdoing, lust for power, revenge, love, a sense of justice, and Hamlet’s famous question of whether to be or not to be.

Esko Salminen plays the play’s great villain, the King, who cowardly covers his eyes with dark glasses. His wife Gertrude is played by Tiia Louste. Above all, however, is Eero Aho, who plays the title role. Hamlet was indeed a young man, but Aho’s frenzied and enthusiastic performance does not respect age. He is once again attractively gorgeous.