The Motive and the Cue – National Theatre

Celebrating Broadway’s famous actor-director duo of the 60s, The Motive and the Cue depicts the journey of Sir Arthur John Gielgud (Mark Gatiss) and Richard Burton (John Flynn) arriving at a Hamlet that is meaningful to both. And in this exciting journey, layer after layer is revealed as reflected in the brilliant set and design of the play. It is the story of two Hamlets, generations, and experiences apart, and when they face each other, one as a “classicist [director] wanting to be modern, and a modern [actor] wanting to be a classicist”, one can hear clashes between theatre v/s film, old v/s new, craft v/s showbiz. Sam Mendes exceptionally directs a stellar cast and production involving Jack Thorne’s words intermingled with excerpts from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. What truly connects the duo of the past and the creatives of the present is the love and gratitude for theatre, making it a living, breathing, thinking, and feeling entity. And that spirit connected me to an otherwise alienating English theatre scene for an immigrant audience like me. 

The play begins with a table reading of Hamlet establishing the status of different characters in this play within a play. Sliding panels divide multiple sets/spaces resembling the private and public lives of the duo that merge only in the rehearsal room and finally at the beginning of the historic run of Hamlet. Scenes from Hamlet carry the narrative forward and the sliding panels reveal Burton’s extravagance and callousness designed in a fiery pink living room with his sensational actress-wife Elizabeth Taylor (Tuppence Middleton) and Gielgud’s wisdom, vulnerability, and responsibility in an all-blue hotel room. Es Devlin’s set design and Benjamin Kwasi Burrell’s music in the transitions aptly uses symbolism to denote character, conflict, and rhythm. Catering to a dual audience, Mendes prudently stages the actors. Costumes by Katrina Lindsay remain true to the style of the period. 

Flynn’s Burton, a rough and growling man, insensitive to those around, shifts believably at the cusp of discovering his Hamlet due to his past with his father. This touching conversation remains alive and tender through Gatiss’ rendition of an affectionate, witty, and adorable Gielgud. Their banter, insults and their growing father-son-like bond make their Hamlet personal, investing, and authentic. It also brings a sense of therapeutic relief from their fathers- as themselves, and as Hamlets. It helps them to discover their motive and their cue for playing Hamlet. Middleton is stunning, charismatic, and powerful as star-actress Taylor, but sometimes seems too theatrical. Nevertheless, she is likeable for her agency in caging herself for a short while and dancing around her husband for a change. As an ensemble, their camaraderie makes you wish to be a part of their rehearsal room, which you do become from time to time. 

Filled with plenty of satisfying moments, the play is a mixture of the wisdom of the old, the passion of the young, and the love of the arts. Highly recommended for all thespians! Running till July 15th at the National Theatre. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/whats-on/

Reviewer: Khushboo Shah

Reviewed: 5^th May 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★