Virtues and shortcomings of the performance… The virtue lay in its greater simplicity. […] Now, in “Hamlet”… the core space remains virtually unfilled, but nowhere do secondary matters become the main focus.[…]
Hamlet, a conversation piece. In some places, quite rightly so. Twenty years after the founding of the Freie Bühne, people in their city certainly speak more naturally […]
The most serious flaw, in my opinion, lies in the lack of control over the individual parts. The line towards the end becomes wavering, dull. A great director, it seems to me, brings intensity; he brings a sense of the whole; here, it is piece by piece (and fading towards the end)… the second half is fleeting… I don’t notice any growth in what has been achieved… One sees a tasteful Hamlet drama. Much of it is neatly toned, attuned, appealing, refined, delicious. I don’t want to say: a charming Hamlet. But instead of mythical clouds, something well-defined. […]
Moissi (with all his charms) was not a creature obsessed with ultimate questions. […]
A touching little Hamlet, yes. […] Alongside all the wonderful things. But we knew he had that. He was even charming … Except that he wasn’t that man in that play.
Alfred Kerr: Der Tag Nr. 245, 19.19.1909