Benedict Cumberbatch in "Hamlet"

[sittything]

The knee squeezing is a new one to me too.  

[J.P.]

 

No, that is a new one to me! I assume we are supposed to be squeezing our knees together to keep from wetting ourselves with excitement?

 

It wouldn't surprise me...

For my own good I should stop reading the reviews.

 

Don't know about profile of Neu Züricher Zeitung, they don't look like yellow press but their review made me write a comment. They really wrote the play was stopped twice due to people filming.

 

Oh, my blood pressure!

[sittything]

I've mostly been avoiding the reviews so I can enjoy or not enjoy Hamlet as my mind sees fit.

 

I'm still disappointed that everyone other than Gatiss pretty much avoided the cameras, but I hope they all had a grand time anyhow.

[J.P.]

Okay, a good - even if not especially positive - one.

 

As a philistine I'm actually glad for reviews like this one above, dealing with possible interpretations. I might disagree later, but at least I have a place to start from. Actually I should start with some school materials on the play.

[J.P.]

I notice to be contradictory to myself about reading reviews, dang, I'm sooooo changeable...

Anyway, another good written one from Financial Times

[sittything]

An Interview with Wanda on BC's Hamlet

[J.P.]

Isn't it a nonsense website?

[sittything]

Isn't it a nonsense website?

 

Shhhhhh.....

[Carol the Dabbler]

... I should start with some school materials on the play.

 

I was going to post an image of the Cliff's Notes for Hamlet -- but it appears that Cliff's Notes are now online -- so here you go!  Just click on the links at the left for details.

[J.P.]

[J.P.]

Another reasonable one.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/beyondchicago/sc-hamlet-cumberbatch-review-story.html

 

BTW, does anybody knows if the second screening on 7th November will also happen in Germany?

[Arcadia]

I see one on October 29 .... and another theater lists:

Monday 26 October

Sunday 1 November

Monday 2 November

 

But is either theater near you? :p

 

Here is the website..... good luck! It took me forever to finally hit the right links that allowed me to book tickets for my nearest theater. Snagged the last four good seats ... I feel so special! :D

[J.P.]

Dang. Nothing in the near area. All possible locations would need a day off work and long drive. Sometimes I feel like living on the Moon. Just wanted to see a chance of watching it for a second time - as it seems to be quite a lot to digest.

[T.o.b.y]

Dang. Nothing in the near area. All possible locations would need a day off work and long drive. Sometimes I feel like living on the Moon. Just wanted to see a chance of watching it for a second time - as it seems to be quite a lot to digest.

 

I checked a few German websites, but didn't find any November showings near you either (you're in Stuttgart, right?).

 

But who knows - maybe they'll change their minds if the October date sells out as fast as it has around here.

[J.P.]

Near Stuttgart, yes. And go to Stuttgart in October. Well, we'll see. Maybe I don't like it at all.
 

[J.P.]

A Review at BBC Radio4

[sfmpco]

Martin Freeman chimes in on Hamlet... (Amanda supposedly was also there but no mention of her)

 

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/martin-freeman-pays-tribute-to-sherlock-co-star-benedict-cumberbatchs-hamlet-693052.html

[Inge l-w]

Right! Where were we? Oh, yes, seeing Hamlet on the 15th of October! After all those reviews, I'm starting to feel it' s an exercise in futility and fan girling! However can I convince my party of four that we didn't splurge out all that money, plus travelling expenses to Bremen, as it's closest, because of Benedict? Is there an ashamed emoticon in this place or should I unleash my inner at my own stupidity?

[J.P.]

Just checked at Barbican website. There are plenty of ticket returns. Which makes me a bit antsy...

Funny thing - 15th and 16th of October are not listed.

[J.P.]

No Fear Shakespeare puts Shakespeare's language side-by-side with a facing-page translation into modern English—the kind of English people actually speak today.

[Inge l-w]

The problem is not the dratted language! We had to compare Marlowe's Dr Faustus to Goethe's as a school project, and Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare's! Plus I have got the Stratford Annotated Complete works of the Bard. The problem has now become 'is it worth all the fuss'?

As for the two-day break, it may be due to technical reasons. Were Saturday matinee performances really necessary? As it is, it lasts about four hours, although a reviewer on BBC Radio One said they had cut out about half an hour's worth of stuff, so Saturdays must be pretty gruelling for all the cast!

P. S. Why antsy, dear J.P.? Are you planning a second visit to London this year during the play's run?

[J.P.]

Not planning, not planning... not planning... but it could happen though, that I let my car at Hamburg Airport and fly over on a whim...

 

Gosh, I need someone with a sofa in London. Or transfer of 221c into RL.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Here is the website..... good luck!

 

I'm looking at the Find a Venue page, and see several theaters within an hour's drive -- but does that page give only theaters that are showing Hamlet, or is it a list of all the theaters that ever show anything from NTL?

 

I do have a major complaint about their listing system, in any case.  It's bad enough that the list is alphabetical by town rather than by state and then by town, but I suppose they use the same system for all countries.  What really bugs me, though, is that they don't say what state the town is in.  There are five US towns named Bloomington, and at least two of them are university towns, plausible venues.  They list three theaters in Springfield -- but there's one of those in just about every state!  Would it be all that much work to say "Bloomington IN" or "Springfield IL"?  Aha!  They have a feedback page....

[Inge l-w]

Dear J.P., here we have reached burnout! I bemoan the money spent to go to Bremen and stay overnight for the 15th of October, and you are looking at Barbican seats. Some of my erstwhile students are in Croydon, and I could pull some strings, and I have got a family friend in Chiswick, though she's really old, but she put me up for the convention, and I have loads of friends in Brighton. Croydon and Brighton would necessitate rail travel, just saying!

[J.P.]

Ah... I just try to find reasons not to go. :P