In <i>Performing Hamlet</i> Croall gives a glimpse into preparing and performing the role of Hamlet … Croall's examination is not purely academic: he enriches it with interviews of five actors and six directors engaged in productions of <i>Hamlet</i>. This makes the text much more appealing and applicable to the modern actor/director. Chapter 9 offers an extensive “day in the life” look at the 2000 National Theatre production with Simon Russell Beale as Hamlet. This chapter helps convey the fast-paced life of the professional actor in preparation, performance, and touring … This is a solid and fresh study for actors/directors and those researching the production history of <i>Hamlet</i>. Summing Up: Recommended.

Choice

An extremely impressive work which will be of great interest not only to actors and directors tackling this most demanding of plays but also to people studying Hamlet as a work of literature.

Shiny New Books

This absorbing study embraces an extraordinary range of directorial and acting approaches to the Himalayan challenges offered by the play. As might be expected in the light of his magisterial biographies of John Gielgud and Sybil Thorndike, Croall’s account of the phenomenon that is the play is superbly researched. It is hard to do justice to such a rich array of viewpoints.

Australian Book Review