Jude Law laughs as he stands in front of Kronborg Castle. (Photo: Reuters)

Jude Law Plays, and Gets Played By, Hamlet

There could be no more apt and atmospheric place to play Hamlet than at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark, built here in the 16th century at the edge of the nation’s border with Sweden.

Laurence Olivier did it and so, over the years, did Richard Burton, John Gielgud and Kenneth Branagh.

Their ghosts, as much as the fictional ghost of the murdered king, seemed to whisper in the background the other night when the latest Hamlet, the British actor Jude Law, performed in the castle courtyard.

The burden and expectation of all this symbolism and history could haunt, even consume, an actor. But Law, 36, has weathered this with a practiced ease. He has just finished a celebrated 12-week run in London. The six performances in Elsinore, called Helsingor in Denmark, were a pause before the production moves to the Broadhurst Theater on Broadway for three months.

Maybe he is just a good actor, but Law appears convincingly cool and unfazed by any burdens that he might or might not be feeling. In a pair of interviews, one in his dressing room in London and the other at his hotel in Elsinore, joined by Michael Grandage, the director of “Hamlet,” Law seemed ridiculously energetic, considering that the play lasts more than three hours and requires him, by his estimation, to speak 40 percent of the lines.

When it comes to “Hamlet,” both director and actor agreed, the only way to shake off memories of great performances past is to accept that the play has no Platonic ideal. “The play will only ever be defined by the personality of the actor taking the part, and the moment he’s in it,” Grandage said.

Law added: “There is no definitive Hamlet, because you don’t play Hamlet, Hamlet plays you. You come out in him, which is why every production is different. You can have a scholarly Hamlet, or someone who is very comedic, or someone who enjoys the lethargy of the part. There’s something so essential about him. He tattoos himself on your skin.”

By that gauge, Law’s Hamlet is less a brooding Dane than an angry, hyper-kinetic one. In person, though, Law is charm itself. Proffering a cup of tea, he fusses that it’s too hot and dilutes it with cold water.

He has a million things to say about Hamlet and — with rehearsals, photo shoots and the demands of being a star — limited time to expound. He came to the role as part of a special season in which the small, nonprofit Donmar Warehouse embarked on a yearlong residency at Wyndhams Theater in the West End.

The goal was to attract new audiences, particularly young ones. And in the case of Law’s “Hamlet” it more than paid off. Every performance has sold out, with many teenagers drawn by the lure of Law.

Law’s theater experience includes “ ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore” and “Dr. Faustus,” so “there’s no sense of someone waking up in the morning and saying, ‘I want to do a bit of stage today,’ ” said Grandage, who is also the Donmar’s artistic director.

“There’s a legitimacy about having this particular movie star return to the stage, because people here knew that he was a theater actor who at some point became a movie star.”

Law suggested in terms of the Broadway season Hamlet might be more accessible to New Yorkers than he is to Londoners. “In a modern way he’s very un-English with the rawness and brutality with which he treats himself,” Law said.

“It will be interesting to see what happens in a place that has embraced analysis more than our country has, to watch a play about a man who is going through this level of self-analysis.”

Law is also a regular presence in tabloid gossip columns. His divorce from the mother of his three children and his relationship with the actress Sienna Miller were both highly public. He has been in the news again lately, with the disclosure that a young woman with whom he had a one-night stand is pregnant, apparently with his child.

As a result, interviewers are under strict instructions not to bring up anything personal. Not that you would really want to, the character Law is playing seems to have enough on his plate right now.

And Law is not interested in public self-analysis. For a moment, in his dressing room in London, he came close, when he was discussing how actors internalize Hamlet by approaching the role through the prisms of their own personalities. In his case he embraces Hamlet’s mercurial nature, he said, more than the character’s melancholy.

“I’m probably much closer to Hamlet than you realize, but it’s not something I want to go into too much, or talk about,” he said. “But rather than having just his lows, where he goes down and stays there, I go up and down more. Perhaps that’s my reveal of myself. I quite like to shave off feelings, when they’re not too constructive, and physicalize them. I don’t want to sit and brood.”

After doing many movies in recent years, Law is taking a break.

“To be honest, I don’t know what I’ll do after this,” he said. “I have no films planned. I haven’t been hugely inspired by what’s come my way in the film industry lately, and this has opened up my eyes to how great roles can be, and how great acting can be.”  NY Times

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