Benedict Cumberbatch in "Hamlet"

[J.P.]

Carol does the term "old enough English" sound better?

[J.P.]

I just can't get over the "King" jacket. That was priceless. I want those to be sold in stores.

I think it was a kind of a formal jacket with "tail" or a uniform jacket, decorated with paint. If you get such a jacket, the rest is DIY.

 

I'm expecting some new cosplays soon. :D

 

Where the heck does Benedict Cumberbatch get all that energy from? Hamlet seemed on fire, he moved furniture during the stage changes and at the end he just ran off. What is he on? I was exhausted from just watching.

And some say acting is no work... Some special mixture of vitamins?

I was more in awe of the ability to talk so much and so loud for so long.

[J.P.]

Oh, yes, I forgot. The screening was also an opportunity to meet someone from a non-Sherlock board who is a sherlokian though, and that for long enough so she could watch Frankenstein broadcasting. Which I was envious about, but then, I had my stories from London!

 

This was one of those occasions when the Jack-in-the-Box Blabber jumps out of my reserved self. It was the first time I could tell an insider about all eye to eye.  :D Happily we haven't got too much time before the play. I hope this person will want to see me again.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Carol does the term "old enough English" sound better?

 

A bit.  (My "like" was mostly for the emotie.)  In general, what you (and a number of others) were talking about could probably best be called "old-fashioned English" or "dated English."  (Not that I'm expecting everyone to switch to those terms!)

[Arcadia]

.... I also cannot help a thought: if Hamlet was written today it would be torn apart by the first proofreader long before it was ever printed or staged. Totally over-talked, whole scenes and passages that bring nothing to the storyline, which itself is so over stretched, that suspension of disbelief is impossible. Deus ex machina moments (the pirates(!), exchanging the weapons at the final fight...), and above all, the very weak ending. ....

Oh good, it's not just me! I found the ending to be rather flat as well, or maybe just too contrived. But I figure that was just the style of the time, too.

[Inge l-w]

Sorry, Carol, you and Arcadia might want to expel me after what I'm going to say, but why would anyone who is not conversant with Elizabethan drama, in particular romances and revenge pieces, because historical pieces are a WHOLE other kettle of fish, go to watch a production of a play used in most schools along with Romeo and Juliet to introduce youngsters to Shakespeare, if they didn't care about the finer points of its rendition, staging, stressing of specific parts etc? Such a play Is MEANT to be over the top, over-large, overflowing with emotional roller coasters and, by necessity, over-dramatic.

I absolutely adored your apposite explanation about the development of the language! Not even Bede wrote in Old English, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle certainly does not qualify. Why can't people just stick to Elizabethan English, a variety of which, Thieves' Cant, would have appealed to Sherlock almost as much as the palimpsests he was studying in the original stories!

[J.P.]

Oh good, it's not just me! I found the ending to be rather flat as well, or maybe just too contrived. But I figure that was just the style of the time, too.

 

I actually feel like missing the ending, because that special effect moment kind of reset my brain. And when I'm awe-struck, I often react getting teary-eyed. My sight was blurred and I hardly could see Hamlet killing Claudius. Sometimes I wish I had a rewind button for reality.

 

ETA: if someone happen to see the back of the King-jacket image in good quality I would be grateful for directions.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... why would anyone who is not conversant with Elizabethan drama, in particular romances and revenge pieces, because historical pieces are a WHOLE other kettle of fish, go to watch a production of a play used in most schools along with Romeo and Juliet to introduce youngsters to Shakespeare, if they didn't care about the finer points of its rendition, staging, stressing of specific parts etc? Such a play Is MEANT to be over the top, over-large, overflowing with emotional roller coasters and, by necessity, over-dramatic.

 

Maybe because they've heard that Shakespeare's plays were the pop culture of his era, meant to entertain the ordinary person?  Maybe because they've heard Hamlet is a great classic drama?  Maybe because they wonder what the mystique is all about?

 

Maybe (at least partly) because their favorite actor is in this particular production?  (Or all of the above.)

[J.P.]

Oh, I keep forgetting this:

I was impressed enough to actually have a Hamlet-ish dream Thursday night. I was one of the extras on a stage and we were walking and running across it. It was a performance and not a rehearsal, but the curtain was closed. Ben was among us, and I think once or twice he took my hand while we were running (the warmth of his hand is what I remember very clearly). Then the curtain rose and I realized that there are only few people watching. I thought: hell, Ben is in this play and the room is empty?! 

Usually when I'm intensively occupied with a theme in my awake time, I don't dream about it. So dreams about my obsessions are very rare. :D

[Inge l-w]

 

Maybe because they've heard that Shakespeare's plays were the pop culture of his era, meant to entertain the ordinary person? Maybe because they've heard Hamlet is a great classic drama? Maybe because they wonder what the mystique is all about?

 

Maybe (at least partly) because their favorite actor is in this particular production? (Or all of the above.)

Dear Carol, mystique, what mystique? Practically everyone who mattered in Europe knew at the time that the whole Danish dynasty was nuttier than a fruitcake, it's pure historical bilge water, rendered in a highly impressive manner! If you start counting the Danish kings who would be certified under one mental condition or another in modern terms, you would need more than the sum of your fingers and toes! Christian VI the exception to the rule!

[J.P.]

As we don't know if they will last:

The Interview. Part 1 and 2, 3 to come later, I hope.
https://vimeo.com/142805097
https://vimeo.com/142824123

[Arcadia]

I just can't get over the "King" jacket. That was priceless. I want those to be sold in stores.

Okay, I give. Which one was the "king" jacket and why are you all calling it that?  I hope it's the one he had on at the banquet, because that was cool.

 

Where the heck does Benedict Cumberbatch get all that energy from? Hamlet seemed on fire, he moved furniture during the stage changes and at the end he just ran off. What is he on? I was exhausted from just watching.

I suspect the energy comes from fear of failure in front of hundreds of theater-goers (or maybe from the pleasure of entertaining said theater-goers?)

 

 

Maybe because they've heard that Shakespeare's plays were the pop culture of his era, meant to entertain the ordinary person? Maybe because they've heard Hamlet is a great classic drama? Maybe because they wonder what the mystique is all about?

 

Maybe (at least partly) because their favorite actor is in this particular production? (Or all of the above.)

Dear Carol, mystique, what mystique?

I think you answered that yourself, Inge: Hamlet is "a play used in most schools along with Romeo and Juliet to introduce youngsters to Shakespeare." Hence, the mystique, as impressionable young minds tend to assume that if it's taught to them, it must be special.

[J.P.]

The fastest design ever :P

 

 

at Redbubble now and coming soon at Spreadshirt

 

Based on this, Arcadia:

 

[J.P.]

Part 3 of the interview is online

https://vimeo.com/142893704

[J.P.]

And a review

http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/reviews/20151015064300/2015-10-16/Angelika-Film-Center/Hamlet

[sfmpco]

I love the SkyArts interview, but I can't help it - I tend to tune BC out when he gets too long-winded.

[J.P.]

Well, that was my problem with Hamlet all the time. :P

[J.P.]

Look who has stolen the show at the SD today!

https://twitter.com/IsareeL/status/656229586112487428

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I had that problem today as well Jenny.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Look who has stolen the show at the SD today!

https://twitter.com/IsareeL/status/656229586112487428

 

Sorry to be dense -- what is SD?

[sfmpco]

SD = stage door

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Sorry to be dense -- what is SD?

It took me a moment to remember stage door over San Diego when I saw that earlier.

[Inge l-w]

Dear sfmpco, what do you mean, long-winded!

We are privileged to hear an intelligent human male expatiate on his work, talking at his usual speed of delivery and not Sherlock's mad deduction one! Most members of his gender tend to be monosyllabic as an alternative to grunting a short answer when asked about anything! That interview is an absolute treat, and J.P. has my heartfelt thanks for finding and posting the links!

[sfmpco]

The fastest design ever :P

 

 

at Redbubble now and coming soon at Spreadshirt

 

Based on this, Arcadia:

 

 

I think this could work as a design IF there was a reference on it to Hamlet.  Otherwise it will be a little obscure.  Maybe something like

 

KING

                       HAMLET                        

                       Barbican Centre, 2015

[sfmpco]

BC is notoriously long-winded and admits it himself, which is one of the reasons he has said he doesn't use Twitter.  I didn't say he wasn't articulate, highly intelligent, and all that.  Just long-winded.  I had to even stop listening to him talk about THE IMITATION GAME.  I'm not sure he's ever effused as much on Sherlock as he did on Hamlet.

 

What I DID like about the interview, however, was the intelligent exchange between the two men.  BC wasn't being asked rote questions about the work but in-depth questions by someone who actually understood it.  BC was relaxed and thoughtful as opposed to his canned answers on the red carpet or press junkets.