Andrew Scott Powers 111-Minute 'Elsinore' as Ian Charleson Battles AIDS Through 24 Hamlet Performances
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 5
Andrew Scott Powers 111-Minute 'Elsinore' as Ian Charleson Battles AIDS Through 24 Hamlet Performances
3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 5
Summary
Andrew Scott’s dual turn as Ian Charleson and Hamlet drives “Elsinore,” which the review calls a tremendously moving portrait of the actor’s final year before his 1990 AIDS-related death at 40.
Stephen Beresford’s script centers on Charleson taking over the National Theatre role after Daniel Day-Lewis exits, then pushing through rehearsals and performances while secretly managing a worsening illness.
Olivia Colman, Billie Piper and David Dawson deepen the film’s emotional pull, with clinic scenes, backstage life and Derek Jarman’s plea to go public grounding the drama in Britain’s AIDS crisis.
The review says Simon Stone’s direction and lush score sometimes lean on cliché, but the 1-hour-51-minute film gains force from its intimate view of queer, theatrical and medical communities.
Premiering at Telluride ahead of a Nov. 20 release, “Elsinore” is framed as both a tribute to Charleson’s 24-show Hamlet run and a broader act of gratitude to theater as a lifeline.