Jude Law's Hamlet Slays Critics

Jude Law took to the stage last night for the opening performance of Hamlet in London, and newspapers were largely impressed by the actor's take on the melancholy Dane. In the Telegraph, Charles Spencer writes that Law showed "rare vulnerability and emotional openness" in Shakespeare's toughest role. Dressed in black jeans, a worn T-shirt, and often near tears, Law "joins the modern pantheon of spellbinding sweet princes."

In the Guardian, Michael Billington is more tempered but praises Law for an introverted, depressive Hamlet "undermined by a built-in death wish." Young audiences have flocked to the sold-out production, and while the show packs no great surprises for Shakespeare fans, "people who come to patronize Jude Law as a movie star essaying the great Dane will be in for a shock." (More Jude Law stories.)