Shakespeare gives a variety of psychological and theological reasons for young Hamlet’s inability to avenge his uncle’s murder of his father. Freddie Fox’s portrayal adds the possibility that the prince’s hands might shake too much to stab straight.
This is not due to any lack of confidence in an emotionally wrenching and vocally ranging portrayal but because this student prince is, fascinatingly, a full-on alcoholic. Returning from Wittenberg uni draining a big whisky bottle, he understandably gags on his mother’s swift-wedding champagne but soon swigs down gin, entirely justifying the playing of Hamlet’s “till then sit still, my soul” as an attempt to settle delirium tremens. He visibly fears that the visitation from his father’s ghost may be his own consumption of spirits speaking. Attempting white-knuckle self-rehab while seeking revenge adds another layer to the usual complication of whether Hamlet’s “antic disposition” is acted or involuntary.
